Joy...

Emily and I had a discussion recently about the dichotomy that is our life here on Pollywog Creek - simple, unassuming, ordinary small-town life versus celebrity interviews and gatherings with dignitaries. One afternoon Emily met the vice president, changed her clothes in a grocery store bathroom and raced home to babysit for a friend. And so it goes. Today I wore my holey jeans and the worn out flip-flips I bought two years ago at Target. The same holey jeans and flip-flops I wear three or four days a week. We cleaned toilets and washed feet. Tomorrow we're off to a fancy-schmancy gala.

Is it okay to admit that I'm much more comfortable in my holey jeans in the obscurity that is our rural home?

Saturday I took photos of the sugarcane fields and the mill and refinery as we drove along the southern tip of Lake Okeechobee. It was not a picture-perfect day, but even under the clouds and through the car window, the dark soil, the bright green fields, and the mill smoke stacks were irresistible attractions. Speaking of irresistible. How about that Lion King, Diego and baby skeleton? Are they not just too, too cute? We were in the local drivers license office yesterday when a young man in his twenties came in and requested an ID card. He was obviously surprised and annoyed when the worker behind the counter told him he needed documentation. "I don't know who you are," she told him. "I'm Pedro Rodriquez." Not his real name, but close. "Okay." She stared at him, and he left. I read a sign on the counter:

"Everyone who comes into this office brings joy. Some bring joy when they come in. Some bring joy when they leave."

Not hard to figure out which "joy bringer" was Pedro, but it sure made me think about which one was me.

Mélange...

...a mixture often of incongruous elements




I think I should have a mélange post once a month, don't you? It's a nice way to tie up loose ends, so to speak. An excuse to post random, unrelated photos from recent weeks and ramble on about this and that.

Tomorrow is our 33rd wedding anniversary. (By the time I get this written and posted it will probably be tomorrow...which means our anniversary is actually today and not tomorrow.)

 

We chose October 29th for our small wedding ceremony to coincide with the Florida-Auburn football game scheduled for the following day and my daddy's October 31st birthday. Louis was a student at the University of Florida and we were too poor to go on a honeymoon, so we married on the 29th, took my parents and our brothers and their wives to the Florida-Auburn game on the 30th and celebrated my daddy's birthday on the 31st. Florida won the football game, we are still married (by the grace of God), and if daddy were alive, we'd be celebrating his 90th birthday on Saturday.

Emily and I spent the best part of today in the city for a little shopping, lunch, and hair cuts. Some time ago I heard a message on giving that encouraged the practice of rounding down spending and rounding up giving. I love it. Today was an opportunity for us to do both. One of my favorite ways to round up giving is to tip generously. I'm not boasting, really. It is such a little thing, but a huge joy I don't want to miss. It is immensely delightful to trust the Lord and see who He puts in our path.

 

Earlier this week I read a fabulous housekeeping tip that is so easy and yet very beneficial. Each time you go into a room in your house, do just one thing to tidy up and improve the room's appearance before leaving. There is not a single room in my small house that I do not enter several times a day. If I were to develop the habit suggested in that tip, my house would be much cleaner.

 

I had a terrible case of insomnia last night (Tuesday). Despite a desperate need for a good night's sleep, I simply could not turn off my mind and found myself wallowing in "poor me's." After hours of tossing and turning and getting out of bed to check e-mails, I was miserable. I begged God to help me fall asleep and decided that if I couldn't turn my mind off, I would at least redirect my thoughts.

 

Two o'clock in the morning I determined to stop feeling sorry for myself and be grateful. I mentally assembled a list of all the things for which I am thankful, and before I knew it, I was asleep.

 

Mélange...

...a mixture often of incongruous elements

I've been contemplating this new season of unscheduled days I appear to be entering. Just last week I told a friend over coffee that I was a teenager the last time my calendar was this empty. Almost as soon as I said it, one thing after another came my way in a steady stream and just that quick, large portions of my unscheduled time quickly evaporated.

There are few moments more thrilling than when I am aware of God's hand in the ordinary events of the day. Such was the case last week when I was left with just enough time between two appointments for a long overdue haircut. I'm normally rather particular about who cuts my hair, but that day time did not permit me to see the beautician I trust at a shop out toward the beach. Desperate for a haircut, I had to settle for whoever was available at a shop closer to my other appointments. I began to doubt the wisdom of that decision when the young lady who had an opening just as I walked in was not in the best of moods. She appeared irritated and almost every sentence was punctuated with offensive language, but by the time I left nearly an hour later, I was confident that it had been a divine appointment, and I knew more about her life as the single mother of two little girls than I know about most of the people in the church I have been attending for seven years.

I know. I'm a couple of weeks behind in my backyard letters. It might have been a bit too ambitious of me to promise a weekly letter of current events at a time of year when life on Pollywog Creek is typically uneventful. It's hot. It rains and it's humid. I'm not complaining, mind you. Just saying. I don't get outside as often as I do when conditions are more favorable. The grass is thick and green, and the thickets along the creek are tangled mounds of bushes and vines and clusters of grapes, wild plums, and saw palmetto berries. A great white heron and a pair of green herons are occasional visitors to the pond and though I can't be certain, they are most likely responsible for the dwindling population of bullfrogs. When I do make it outdoors, my favorite times of day are early morning, just after the dayflowers open and the dew still clings to the cob webs and sparkles on the blades of grass in the morning sunlight, and late afternoon after a rain when the whole world seems to glow bright green, and dragonflies line up along the barb-wire fence. All that to state the obvious - mimi's backyard letters will not always be posted weekly.

 

We are one of the three original couples in our mid-week small group, and it occured to me yesterday that we might be taking the idea of "living life together" a bit too seriously. Over the past year, three of us have had cardiac stress tests, two of us have needed joint injections, and three of us are now welcoming the new dentist to the community for major restorative dental work. A new local pastor is interested in joining our group. We probably should tell him what that might mean to his health and bank account.

 

Monday afternoon I had the pleasure of a long and leisurely conversation with two of the most beautiful and mature young women I know - my daughter Emily and our sweet friend Tiffany. Both Emily and Tiffany humble me with the depth of their faith and wisdom far beyond their chronological ages. We always delight in visits from Tiffany, and Monday was no exception. Her reminder of God's sovereignty in all things was one of the "God sitings" our pastor encouraged us to look for in his message this past Sunday. "The chaos around us comes as no surprise to God," she reminded us. Good, good words always, but especially for us this week as Emily prepares to leave for Rwanda and chaotic moments seem to be escalating.

 

"What are you going to do while Emily is in Rwanda?" several people have asked. Good question. Besides missing her terribly, being anxious for nothing, and praying without ceasing, I'm considering doing all the things that embarass her, like taking my camera into coffee shops and singing in the car. One thing I won't do is clean her room.