Scripture standout: Ps 119: "108 Accept, LORD, the willing praise of my mouth,
and teach me your laws.
109 Though I constantly take my life in my hands,
I will not forget your law."
1 Corinthians 8: "But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. 2 Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know. 3 But whoever loves God is known by God."
His Deed/The Day: Complainer alert! Prepare for the beaching to begin. We're leaving to go to France next week. And I'm on deadline for two newspapers — plus for turning in my first-ever long feature for The Florida Times-Union. Oh, and the kids are on spring break. P.S... one's been sick since last Friday — hack, hack, hacking on me and being super chatty and sitting all up close to me and stuff.
(All I want to do is maximum strength Lysol myself head to toe...a few times I've wanted to say, "OMG take a step back!" or "Stop freaking coughing," or flipping out watching germy little fingers slip slide all over my iPhone throughout the day. Geez!!!)
Did anyone ever read that book, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day?
Today's deed was pretending that I wasn't tumbling down that slippery slope of flipping out. Today, I took the kids to the pool for a little fun in the sun so we could get out of the house that I've been holed up in — being coughed upon — for what feels like a century. In fact, we brought a friend. And had a very profitable lemonade stand. And all the while, I typed on my handy dandy little MacBook pretending I was holding it all together, trying to stay focused on my mountain of work and be a pleasant mommy — and answer the persistent questions with the warm, sweet preface, "Yes, honey?" Honey my a**. Harumph.
Deedsclosure: Karma got me back today. I was on the receiving end of a perfectly executed, "Let me know if there's anything I can do for you today, OK?" I deserved it. I let that doozy of a non-deed slip right out of my mouth this week. And while I tried to redeem myself with a little Frosty delivery to the person I bludgeoned with the do-gooder-bad, it didn't take those words back. Just another reminder: Take "let me know what I can do for you" out of the vocabulary completely. Just do something that might help and move on. I mean seriously. Who is ever going to respond to that question with an actual request?
Can you tell I'm annoyed? Is it that time of the month?
Here's a little deeding idea. Take someone's kids for the day. This is especially well received by mothers of young children. Be the one to ask. My mother-in-law asked if she could take my children today — and offered to let them spend the night. Oh. The holy grail of gifts. Oh yes. The overnight. I was salivating with desire to have a quiet house so I could work in peace. But with a sick child and another that has been the victim of drive-by hacking all week, I couldn't do it. Her husband is old and a little frail. That's the last thing they'd need, to catch the crud. But it was an exceptional offer. Taking someone's children for a spell, ranks up there as one of the Best. Deeds. Ever.
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