Workplace Honey and Sole Glue

Workplace Honey and Sole Glue

I'm pretty sure you've all heard the old saying "You'll catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar."  If you haven't heard it, that tells me two things.  1) You didn't grow up in the south or 2) Neither did your grandparents.  Of course we aren't trying to attract flies to our cubicles (that would be super annoying and gross), but does anybody out there really like to work with  "vinegar" people?  Let's face it, we are all attracted to the "honey" people.  Working around people who are genuinely nice just makes our day better all the way around.  

Looking back on my 28 years as an Administrative Assistant, first in the grocery business, then healthcare and now power distribution, I can say with firm resolve that every company has their share of "vinegar and honey". Believe me, I have worked with some vinegar people.  You know the ones.  They find fault with everything and everyone.  Heaven forbid a vinegar person has to do something that "isn't their job".  For some vinegar people, if they were to crack a smile or speak to you in an elevator, I fear their face may just break apart and fall off their little head. I'm sorry, but in my book, vinegar is only good in pickle juice or mixed with oil on a salad.  

On the other hand, I have found that associates who are able to achieve a balance of professionalism that is matched with a genuinely kind spirit, are the employees who truly make a difference for everyone in the workplace.  They leave a sweet and long-lasting impression on others. These are the "honey" people.  A Physician friend of mine called these folks the "sole glue" of a company.  I like that term!  We need something that binds us together, despite our differences.  After all, no matter how good the leather is on a pair of shoes, if the sole comes loose our toes are sure to get wet.  Companies are beyond blessed who hire people like this and have them living among us and working beside us breathing life into our 40+ hour work weeks.  Sole glue people can help to keep us from coming "unglued" when times get tough at the office.  

Let me give you a real life example of a honey workplace person. Someone who really was like "sole glue".  Frank Horner was his name.   I met Frank within my first week of employment at a large hospital when he came to my office to set up my desktop computer.  Quickly and efficiently Frank took care of my computer needs.  He welcomed me to our workplace, we had a nice conversation, and he was on his way.  I remember thinking, "Wow, what a nice guy. I'm going to love it here." Frank was an IT guy who worked at the company Help Desk, but really, he was so much more than that. You see, I found Frank to be an ambassador for the company.  No, you wouldn't have seen that on his ID Badge, his resume, nor was he monetarily compensated for the work he did in that role, but he truly was ALL that and more.  

There were times when things would go wrong and I knew that Frank wasn't always the one I needed to call, but due to his kind mannerism and helpful attitude, I called him anyhow.  It was as if I picked up that phone and my finger just automatically dialed his number (x7624 - it's etched in my brain).  But why?  It wasn't that he was the Bruce Lee of the Help Desk with a black belt in desktop solutions, but Frank possessed such a kind spirit people were drawn to him - much like flies are drawn to honey. I knew that even if he couldn't fix my problem, he would happily help me to find the person who could.  (Disclaimer: Okay, I admit it, there was a dual purpose in my calling Frank. He would always compliment me in some way or another that simply made me feel good for the rest of the day.  Whether we want to admit it or not, we all need that from time to time, don't we?)  I quickly learned to depend on Frank not only when my computer froze up, but often times I would drop by his office for a quick dose of his wit and conversation to sweeten an otherwise sour day. Frank was super busy, all the time and looking back, I'm not sure how he was able to get any of his own work done for helping everybody else with theirs. To complicate matters in his life, he had chronic back pain, had endured multiple surgeries and was confined to a desk chair for most of his 8 to 10 hour day.  He had every reason to be a little "vinegar" from time to time, but I never saw it.  I feel a little guilty about taking so much of his time, reflecting back on those days.

Frank was my "go to guy" for eleven years.  Then, our company decided to outsource their IT operations to a firm in India.  ("Ello, dis is Peggy.")  Some folks were laid off or took other jobs internally, but Frank and several others stayed on in-house, but working for the outside vendor. Under the new IT company, we were supposed to put in a "ticket" and someone from the international help desk (Dehli, India I believe) would return our call "in the order in which it was received".  (I found it hard to believe there were 1,524 callers ahead of me, based upon how long it took them to return my call, but I digress...)  Since old habits die hard, most times I would still dial x7624, after all, Frank was my 'buddy' and always willing to help a girl out.  Come to find out, most of the Executive Assistants still called Frank for the same reasons I did.  In true Frank fashion, he never turned us away or scolded us for breaking the new rules, even though I know it must have been frustrating for him doing the work that should have been assigned to three or four people.

 A few months after leaving my employment at the hospital in 2014, on a cold December day I was notified that our sweet Frank had suddenly passed away. It seems he had a massive heart attack at the prime age of 56.  I couldn't help but wonder how that could have happened to someone with a heart as big as Frank's.  I was crushed.  So many times I had thought of dropping in and visiting my old friend and catching up or meeting him for lunch, but I just never got around to it.   When I attended the funeral home visitation for Frank I was not at all surprised to find the crowd lined up and down the hallway and nearly out the door.  A few family members and friends, but mostly co-workers had come to offer their condolences. As I talked quietly to a group of my work peers, for the first time it hit me. I truly realized what an impact Frank's kindness had made on everyone who had the opportunity to work with him.  You see, until then, I had thought of Frank as my very own, personal IT Guy and friend.  As it turns out, everyone else felt the same way about Frank. Maybe it was just his nature, but this guy went out of his way to create a workplace that "worked" for everyone.  It wasn't really his technical skills that would be missed - you can train anyone to fix what's broken.  It's much more than that.  What will be missed most was his kindness and willingness to give of himself to make things better for everyone  Maya Angelo once said "Try to be a rainbow in someone else's cloud".  Frank was definitely a rainbow, but I like to also think of him as "Workplace Honey".  

Personally and professionally, I want to be like Frank.  Not only to do a good job from 8-5, but with an attitude of "I'm here to help and to make your day a little brighter, your job a little easier and your life less stressful." Who knows, maybe at the end of my days someone will say, "She was the sole glue that held this place together." 

Frank, thank you for always lending a helping hand and thank you for the lesson I didn't know you were teaching me.  

I love celebrating people’s birthdays, don’t you?  Family, friends, even just casual acquaintances – Birthdays are just SPECIAL!  Today, I want to celebrate the birthday of a very special person.  His name is Jesse Lewis.  This is him (circa about 1985).

I want to share with you some things about what makes Jesse’s birthday so special to me.  

When I was just starting out in the secretarial field, Mr. Lewis (as we called him back then) was the Sr. Vice President of Store Operations for Red Food Stores, a Chattanooga, home grown grocery chain.  He later became Executive VP Operations and to those of us who worked under his leadership, we thought of him as the Captain of our ship.  In my opinion, Jesse was what Red Food was all about.   If you’re from Chattanooga you may remember the slogan, “No Stamps, No Limits, No Games, No Gimmicks, just everyday low prices!”  Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about.  Jesse had cut his teeth on a paper grocery sack and had worked his way up the ladder, gathering a vast amount of operations experience along the way.  A man full of integrity, Jesse had genuine class and was always the perfect southern gentleman.  He gave me an opportunity at the young age of 22 to work in his busy office and to learn at the feet of his very professional Administrative Secretary, Nell.  (BTW, that’s what we were called back then….secretaries, which was perfectly fine with me.)  Anyhow, not only did we learn a lot about the grocery business from Jesse, we learned about life.  Jesse and his lovely wife Joyce would always take Nell and I, along with our husbands out for special dinners, whether it be for birthdays or secretaries day.  Special occasions were made even more special simply because he took time to think of us.  Oh and speaking of birthdays, many times through the last 30 years I’ve gotten a call from Jesse on my own birthday just to say "Happy Birthday".  It means so much just to know you haven't been forgotten.  Priceless, I’m just sayin. 

Back in the day, It was Jesse’s practice to spend Thursdays and Fridays out in the field, visiting stores.   He was a very hands-on type of executive and tried to know as many folks names as possible.  He loved the day to day interaction with the employees on the “front lines” and the stores (who were in good shape), loved to see him visit.  (Of course for those stores who weren’t prepared, it would turn out a little stressful to have the big boss in the store for a visit.)  Long before smart phones and Siri, Jesse would carry his mini recorder and make audio notes of things that needed attention store by store.   Nell would take that tape and type it up “memo style” to send to the District Managers for follow-up.  This follow-up would happen quickly and effectively.  I believe this is one reason I have such little patience for poor customer service today.  It CAN be done right, I’ve seen it. Anyhow, back to my story (focus Moe)….I can still see Jesse coming through the door of our office after a long hard day of visiting stores, plopping down in one of our side chairs in our office and telling us about his day.  Y’all, it was the highlight of my week when he did that!  We heard interesting stories from his early days in grocery, funny things he saw on the road or pleasant customers he had met that day.  We heard about his family, who was then and is still the most important thing to Jesse.  

I remember the morning he came in and he had been out for his morning walk.  Along the way, he saw a cat that had his head caught in a tin can.  Jesse tried to catch the cat and help it out of its predicament, but couldn’t.  In telling us the story, we could tell how upset he was that he wasn’t able to free the kitty and we just knew he would worry about it all day, which I’m sure he did.  I also remember when I got married and the gift that he and Joyce got me for my shower.  It was a super nice hand mixer.  When I opened it, Jesse said, “Now Moe, you got to stir up some good grub for Darrell with that.”  I said, “But I don’t know how”, to which he laughingly replied “Well, it’s time to learn.” Indeed it was.  

We were family at Red Food and I guess we all just assumed it would always be that way.  But as happens in life and in business, things began to change around our company.  Gradual changes at first, but then new upper management and a change with our parent company had developed a new course for us, a course that would eventually not end very well.  After a while, Jesse decided it was time for him to leave the company he loved so much and had dedicated his time and talents to build.  Let me just say, the memory of that day is still vivid in my memory.  Tears were shed, hearts were broken, not only by those who worked closely with him, but by an entire work force of dedicated employees in over 50 store locations, who believed in the same principles and philosophies that Jesse had stood for and had instilled in us.   We felt lost.  Those were some dark days for sure.  But you know what?  You just can’t keep a good man down and what we lost at Red Food, was gained by other companies who were blessed with Jesse's knowledge and expertise like we were.

  

Fast forward to 2015.  Jesse has gone on to touch many more lives and companies over the past 30 years or so and I have recently found out that they love him just as much as we do!  Who knew?But that’s okay, we’re glad to share him! 

As the Executive VP of Food City, who is now taking over the stores that used to be Red Food (now Bi-Lo), Jesse is effectively “coming home”.   I’m not going to give out his age (he can do that if he wants to), but let’s just say, most people have loooooong retired by now.  I’m thinking retirement is not in his short range goals, especially since he’s got 29 more stores to bring into Food City’s family.  

Here's a picture from the Press Conference announcing the buyout of 29 Bi-Lo Stores in Chattanooga.  Everyone in this picture worked with Jesse at Red Food.  Pictured (LtoR) Kim Moses (Accounting/Front Office), Bob Oldham (CFO), Me, Jesse, Don Haynes (VP of Real Estate) and Curtis Johnson (Human Resources/Community Involvement).  

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY Jesse Lewis!  I hope it’s a good one and to quote one of your favorite people (Paul Bear Bryant) “If you want to walk the heavenly streets of gold someday, you gotta know the password and it's Roll, Tide, Roll!”  (I think you’ve got that one down pat so you're good!)  

It's Getting Hot in Here!

It's been awhile since I've posted on my Blog, so I thought I'd give you a taste of what to expect in my book "Living Upright in a Downright Crazy World". Disclaimer: Please know that this is a rough draft. It has not yet been edited so keep that in mind as you read. :) - Melissa 

Soldiers of Christ, Arise! 

Help! somebody make it stop! Is it just me or is the whole world going crazy? I mean really, just think about some of the things that have happened in our society over the last ten to fifteen years. I'm not really talking about small, insignificant things either. I'm talking about major shifts in beliefs and life philosophies. I don't know if you've noticed, but I see good, solid moral folks who are turning their belief system around to embrace all sorts of behaviors that just a half century ago would have been unthinkable to accept, much less embrace. In the early days of our country many of the things society now accepts as normal behavior would land those people committing such acts in stocks out on the town square!  Today, they're getting congratulation tweets from the President and First Lady. It seems that the proverbial 'frog in the pot' is up to his big, bulging froggie eyes in boiling water by now. What's that? You don't know the story about how our desensitization to sin and the cultural immorality that surrounds us has been likened to a frog placed into a pot of room temperature water? 

 Picture this: There's a frog. He's a nice, hard working frog. He pays his taxes and is an excellent citizen. He believes in God, attends "The Church on the Pond" on Sunday mornings, Sunday nights and sometimes even mid-week Bible study. One day he climbs into a pot of room temperature water he finds sitting on the stovetop. While he's having a good time splashing around, someone comes by and turns the stove on low heat. At first, it feels really good to Mr. Frog, almost like a nice, warm bath. It starts to get a little warmer, but Mr. Frog isn't concerned. After all, it's not that hot and he can jump out before it gets too hot to be able to stand it. As the water temperature continues to rise, our resident amphibian, having been lulled into a state of complacency finds himself all of a sudden unable to breathe. His legs are like limp noodles and try as he may, he cannot get up the strength to jump out of the water. It begins to boil. After some struggle and before very long, all is lost. Alas, the heat has overtaken him and we have ourselves a big pot of Frog soup. Mmmmm....and me with no crackers! 

Friends, I have a question for you to ponder. When are we going to feel the heat and jump out of the pot? If you're honest with yourself, you must admit that it's already past the point of a nice warm bath for most God fearing Christians. So what are we waiting for? Are we waiting until our children are lost to a world of ungodliness because we as parents neglected to teach them the full, undiluted truth of the Gospels? Are we waiting until our marriages fail due to neglect and selfishness by both parties before we stop, take a good look at our situation and make changes to correct it? Are we letting social pride and political correctness get in the way of our standing up for what is right according to God's law? Excuse me, but this water is ready to boil! It's time to jump out of the pot people! 

 I believe there is one thing that stops us from speaking out against sin, even though deep down we know that we should. It's that little four letter word spelled F-E-A-R. That's it, we're afraid. We're afraid of being different. We're afraid of losing friends. We're afraid of being accused of bigotry or hatred. Perhaps we're afraid of losing our job or our social standing. "The risk is just too great", we rationalize. "I can't change the whole world. I'm just one woman (or man)." Really? Tell that to the great Bible heroes in the Old Testament or the apostles and followers of Christ in the New Testament. Many of them did single handedly change their world, earned their place in history and more importantly, in heaven. I feel certain they must have had some fear about what might happen to them and in many instances, it did cost them their very lives. As of this writing, at least here in America, I'm not aware of Christians being killed for standing up for their beliefs.  Notice I said, "As of this writing."  If you don't hear that train whistle blowing, you simply aren't listening.  There are other countries in our world where this is happening right now. Are we really so foolish as to believe it couldn't happen here? I hope not. Already in America, churches, religious based businesses and organizations are being harassed and fined by the same government that just ten years ago, carefully protected them through our constitutional rights. Today, even law abiding citizens are being targeted and persecuted for speaking out on things like homosexuality, same sex marriage and abortion.

There is another sound I am hearing.  Shhhh.... Listen. Do you hear it too? It's loud enough that I believe you can. Right now here is a loud call going out from the portals of Heaven to all believing men and women. God Himself is calling us to Stand Up, to Speak Up, and to be a witness for Him. It's an urgent call, we must not delay.  To those who heed the call, please know that this stand will not be easy. You will lose friends. You will be hated by some, mistreated by many and possibly even lose monetarily. It's much easier just to sit on the sidelines and watch while other brave Christians fight on the battlefield. Oh, you'll cheer them on alright, "Go Team!" But, fighting the fight is much too hard. We may get dirty, or even hurt in the battle. It's much easier to just turn a blind eye to all the immorality and wickedness all around us. We tell ourselves, "It's not me doing it. I'm not part of the sin problem." But the truth is, if that is our position on the matter, we ARE a part of the problem, a huge part! Our lackadaisical, wishy-washy, lukewarm Christianity is a huge part of the overall sin problem in our world today. 

Ladies and gentlemen, it's time we strap on our armor and join our brothers and sisters in the army on the front lines. I am writing this book hoping to get some new recruits. How about you? Remember how Uncle Sam said, "I Want You"? Well, I'm here to tell you that "Jesus Wants You!" Are we willing to serve in the army of Christ?   One of my favorite hymns is "Soldiers of Christ Arise!"  I believe it is fitting for our time, don't you?

"Soldiers of Christ, Arise!  

And put your armor on. 

Strong in the strength which God supplies. 

Strong in the strength which God supplies, 

Through his beloved son."

If You Give a Girl a Cookie.....

If you give a girl a cookie, she will eat it and it will be history.  But, if you teach a girl to bake cookies, she can eat one anytime she wants!  Other than the obvious things on my holiday "To Do" list this season, I had one objective in mind. One mountain to climb, one race to win, one hill on which to place my flag of conquest.  This is something I have wanted to do better most of my adult life.  Now, I'm not a betting woman, but I'd be willing to wager it's probably something most of you have struggled with and wished you too could be better at too.  What is it, you may be wondering?  Well, it's Christmas Cookies.  You know, those sweet little blobs of sugar, butter and flour that have accompanied the holidays since you were a little kid.

 If you were a child of the 60's like me, some of you may remember those red plastic sets of cookie cutters featuring all the heavy hitters of the major holidays.  I think Tupperware may have made them.  You know the ones....The set included, a Turkey, Santa, Easter Bunny, the American Flag, well here....this is what they looked like.

I had long since forgotten about those plastic pieces of my childhood until I found a bag filled with them at a yard sale several years ago.  Immediately, they made me think of years gone by baking with my mother and granny.  Of course, I had to have them.  They were a steal at only a buck fifty.  As soon as I removed them from the ziploc bag they were in, memories of my brothers, sisters and I covered in flour standing in the kitchen making cookies flooded my mind.  Now, if your Mom had these particular cookie cutters, you will remember how incredibly hard it was to get the dough out of the little grooves.  I mean, really? It was so frustrating.  I don't know what kind of recipe we used way back then, but whatever it was, it really stunk.  I mean, you would cut out the cookies, and if you were lucky enough to get them in one piece onto the cookie sheet, you were doing good.  Then, when you baked them, they would spread out and by the time they were finished baking, you couldn't tell the easter bunny from a snowman.  Yeah, I figure most of you reading this have experienced this same thing.  We now know that the reason the dough did that is because we were adding leaven, and come to find out, the perfect cookie for cutting doesn't contain leaven.  (Who knew???)

Enter "Google".  That's right  Google has completely changed my life in the Christmas cookie department.  That's because one day, early December I decided I would Google "How to bake the perfect cut out Christmas cookie".  Among all the blogs and recipe sites, I found this one.  http://bakingamoment.com/how-to-bake-easy-and-delicious-cutout-cookies-with-neat-edges/

Upon reading the blog, I thought I'd give it a try.  One thing that intrigued me about this blog was the bloggers claim that the edges of the cookie would bake perfectly without changing shape.  So I gathered all my ingredients and supplies and took the plunge.  After baking these up, I found the bloggers claim to be completely accurate!  YAY!  Finally, a cut out cookie recipe that was easy to work with, didn't tear up when you tried to put them in the pan and most importantly, tasted as good as they looked.  This sturdy dough even came out of those tiny little corners of my vintage cutters.  I was thrilled with my new discovery.  Now, to find a really good decorating royal icing recipe.  Here is the one I came across and decided to try.  http://www.sweetsugarbelle.com/2011/04/royal-icing-101-or-all-roads-lead-to-rome/  This turned out to be a really cool blog and there are many, many great tips for cookie decorating on here.  The icing was not only tasty with it's almond flavoring, but easy to work with.  As a bonus, you could store it covered in the refrigerator for up to a month!  SCORE!

Both the cookie dough and the icing recipes were really good and I found this the easiest and most successful cookie experience from all my years making Christmas cookies.  I still had my moments where I wondered why I wasn't piled up in the recliner beside my husband watching Hallmark movies, but I got through it.  At the end of my first session, this is what I ended up with.  Not too shabby for an amatuer, eh?

I even invited my sister, niece and great niece over for an evening of cookie baking.  We had fun and the cookies were precious!  Here's a picture of this year's Cookies For Santa, thanks to my newfound recipes!

The take away from all of this is this..... If there is something you want to do that you've never done, or something you've been wanting to do better (like me and my cookies), just get online and do a little bit of research and try different methods.  There is an answer for every question and a solution to every problem.  Sometimes, all it takes is a little "Googling".  I am by no means a cookie expert now, but I am not as intimidated by all those awesome cookie pictures I see on my pinterest feed.  I plan on getting better and better at this, and by next Christmas, who knows......I could have a cookie blog of my very own!  Why not?  Er, Um, Eh.......Nah.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  Now, go eat a cookie (or just bake one)!

BE A DOLL!

You're A Doll!

Back in May, our ladies at church planned and carried out our annual Saturday afternoon tea for ladies both young and old.  The theme of this year's tea was one that is near and dear to my heart - Dolls.  Like most little girls, dolls were a HUGE part of growing up at our house.  My 2 sisters and I loved our dollies and don't tell him I told you, but one of our brothers liked playing with them too.  (tee-hee)  But that's a story for another day, I guess. 

The exact theme for this special day was "All Dolled Up".  Little girls got to come in and go over to the life size doll house and make their very own paper doll to take home.  (Remember those?  We loved our Paper Dolls.  Little girls today don't know what they're missing!)

After singing a few songs led by the vocal talents of Michelle Young, our special speaker for the afternoon was the multi-talented and beautiful Joy Miller who related our lives as a christian women to the different types of dolls.  It was great!

The funny thing is, I had written a script for several of us to act out a play geared to the younger ladies in attendance.  Some of the same things I brought out in my script, Joy brought out in her talk.  It was almost as if we had gotten together and planned it that way, but trust me, we didn't.  After all, those of 'yall who know me well, know that pre-planning is NOT one of my strong suits. I find it much more thrilling to fly by the seat of my pants (or pantaloons, in this case).  As a matter of fact, the actresses for my skit didn't rehearse the skit at all until a few minutes before "showtime"!  Even so, it turned out great and we all had lots of laughs and hopefully the ladies in attendance enjoyed the skit. 



A BIG thank you to my sweet friend Tonya Lively (pictured above), Kendall Lively, Lindsey Tinker, Rebecca McBrayer and Karen McBrayer for being willing to put themselves out there like that with no rehearsal.  Now, that's what I call true commitment to a cause!  I really do appreciate it!  After the skit, Lindsey and I sang a couple of songs, which included Lindsey's version of the "cup song".  Everyone seemed to enjoy that and all I can say is that it must be nice to be that coordinated!  Lindsey gave me a class on how to do the cup part of the song the night before, but I never could get it.  Guess this old cheerleader needs to hang up her pom poms 'cause she sure ain't as good as she once was.  

After all the hoopla was over that Saturday afternoon and I was driving home with my very own seventeen year old Barbie doll Lindsey (pictured below), I began thinking about a few things that I wanted to share here, on my Born To blog.  :) 

Most Christian women can probably relate themselves to some type of doll.  For instance, we may be a Barbie doll Christian who is overly concerned about material things like our appearance and possessions, never really getting past the superficial to the "real" person underneath.  God wants us to be real and look to things above, not on earth.  (2 Corinthians 5:1-5)

Another doll many of us can relate to is that of the Rag Doll.  If we have a rag doll mentality, perhaps we are not valuing ourselves as we should.  Rag dolls generally are the ones wagged around by their owners, hair unkempt, clothes soiled, tattered and torn.  Many times life causes us to become like the rag doll and we are made to feel less beautiful, or less talented, or less precious than other women we see around us.  All I can say is "RAG DOLLS of the world UNITE!"  And know that we are precious to God!  He loves us with all our bumps, bruises, scrapes and scars.  And as for that dirty smock we're wearing, he can clean us up and cleanse us like no laundry mat or dry cleaner could ever do! 

This is me in my rag doll costume!

Hey, remember the "Chatty Cathy" Doll?  My sister Pam had one when we were little.  We sure loved that doll.  Makes me think though, I believe I know a few "Chatty Cathy" types.  You know the ones, that talk, talk, talk all the time?  You don't even have to pull their string to get a big ol' serving of their thoughts and ideas and usually, they are so much smarter and better than my own -  I just clam up.  (Sometimes I can make myself like a paper doll where I just slide up under something and disappear.)  Are you one of those Chatty Cathy's?  People who'd rather talk than listen?  I had a school teacher that told us "You learn more from listening than you ever will from hearing yourself talk."  I believe that.  

But you know, one of my favorite dolls is the baby doll.  I loved cuddling them, putting them in my toy stroller, changing their little diapers and feeding them their little magic bottles, you know the ones that the milk disappeared when you tilted the bottle up?  (I never did figure out how those silly things worked!)  But  as much as I loved my baby dolls, I don't think I want to be a grown up version of my cherished baby dolls.  I don't want to whine when things don't go my way, or constantly complain or have to be babied all the time.  I am a much stronger woman of God than that, aren't you?  

In closing, let me just say that if you are a woman reading this blog, You are a doll!  A precious, precious creation of the Almighty God, creator of the universe!  He loves you with all your imperfections and has the awesome ability to clean you up, dress you up in  his royal garments and give you a seat you at his royal table.  Not bad for a rag doll, huh?  I guess you can tell that I really enjoyed our doll themed event and I can't wait until the next one.  Hey, maybe we'll be PIRATES!  Argh Mateys!  Batten down the hatches and all that stuff!  (If it keeps rainin like it's doing now, we'll all need a ship, that's for sure!)  Bye for now!

Born to Give

 

At my Church we recently had a guest speaker, Brother Kyle Butt.  Although still a young man, Kyle is a very gifted speaker and has a unique way of taking a message you may have heard a dozen times and making it brand spanking new!  This particular sermon was on a topic that many of us find a little unsettling.  No, it’s not about gay marriage, abortion or how you voted in the last election.  It was about GIVING.  I remember my reaction when I heard the topic and my first thought was, “Oh no, here we go…another sermon on giving because we’re not meeting budget.”  You see, our congregation does a lot of mission work and benevolence and spends a lot of money to take the gospel to foreign countries as well as right in our own back yard.   I expected another one of “those” sermons on giving, but much to my surprise Kyle’s sermon was different.  He brought out things I had not thought about on the subject of giving.  At 50 years old, I have listened to a large number of sermons on giving but I can honestly say that none have affected me like this one.   I left the building that day with a new resolution to be a more giving person, not only in monetary ways, but just in general.  More giving of my time, my talents AND my money.  This leads me to the little story I’d like to share with you about God’s law of giving and how it became more real to me last week.

You see, I work in a Catholic based hospital with daily emphasis on Christianity, but even more so during the Easter season.   Along with the daily spiritual reflections, we get to have a little secular Easter fun too.  Our Human Resources department hosted an Egg Hunt for the employees and hid “golden eggs” all throughout the hospital for us to find.  If you found one,  you are very fortunate indeed because they held prizes of gift cards, Ipads, Ipods, all kinds of goodies!  Now, historically my track record on finding the “prize egg” is not all that good.  As a kid, I was lucky to find 3 or 4 eggs at an egg hunt, much less the coveted “Prize Egg”.  But as a nurse friend and I scoured the hospital searching for eggs, my luck was about to change.  There it was - tucked neatly in a pot of pretty green foliage in one of the waiting areas.  Sparkling, shining, just waiting for me to rescue it from it's hiding place.  When I pulled the golden egg out of the planter, several folks sitting around said, “I can’t believe you found one because tons of people have looked in that pot and didn’t find it.”   I opened it up and inside was a slip of paper that said “Bi-Lo Gift Card”.  (If you're not from here, Bi-Lo is a grocery chain and just happens to be my favorite!)  I quickly headed down to the HR departement to redeem my prize.  Although my golden egg only had a $15.00 gift card in it, I was still plenty egg-cited!  I planned to give it to my daughter (who is a transporter at the hospital) when I got home so she and her husband could buy some diapers for their baby. 

As I came through the lobby of the hospital, gift card in hand, I saw several Environmental Services workers (janitorial staff) who had just gotten off work and were waiting for a ride.  One of them has always pulled at my heart strings because I get the feeling that she has had a very hard life.  She is a black woman, probably mid-fifties, heavy, with dreadlocks and a bright gold tooth that shines (much like my golden egg) when you can get her to smile.  Something told me to give that woman the gift card.  I tried to ignore the still small voice at first thinking, “That would just be too weird.”  But then I remembered my new resolution to be a more giving person so I motioned for her to come over to me.  At first, she looked all around and behind her as if I was talking to someone else, then she pointed at herself and said, “Who, Me?”  I said, “Yes, come here a minute.”  She walked over and looked like she was afraid she had done something wrong.  I put my hand on her shoulder and simply told her that I had found one of the golden eggs and wanted to give her the gift card that was inside.  I went on to explain that I know how hard she works and I had just bought groceries and didn’t really need it right now and so on.  She took it, looking a little bit confused, then we hugged and she said, “Ain’t nobody ever give me nothin’ befo.”  I said, “Well, today’s your lucky day”, and quickly walked away because I could feel myself getting a little emotional.  Walking back to my office I was feeling pretty good about this giving thing, but couldn’t help but wonder if my gift card had been for a hundred dollars would I have found it so easy to be generous?  Although I’d like to think I would, I’m just not sure.  But hey, we gotta start somewhere, right?   Now, here’s where the story gets good.  This “gifting” took place around 2:45 in the afternoon.

I went back to my office to work and at the end of her shift, my daughter came by and she was holding one of the golden eggs.  She said, “Mom, the weirdest thing just happened!  We had looked for eggs all day with no luck.  Then  I was wheeling a patient down the hallway and the fire alarm went off.  The corridor doors slammed shut right in front of us and I looked down and there was this golden egg!  I parked my patient and asked him to excuse me for a minute, then scurried over and picked it up, explaining to him about the egg hunt.  When I got back to the unit, the nurses all said they had been looking for a golden egg for years and had never found one.  Here I am, only been here for 3 weeks and I’ve already found one!”  I asked her what prize her egg contained and I know you won’t be surprised to learn It was exactly the same thing I had given away to my new EVS friend.  Knowing what time the fire alarm had sounded let me know that her big find happened about 3:00, just after I had returned from the lobby.   

Now, if this isn’t an illustration of how God’s law of giving works, I don’t know what is.  In the book of Luke we read, “Give and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom.  For with the same measure that ye mete, withal it shall be measured to you again.”  Luke 6:38.  I’ve read that verse a dozen times and heard it quoted more times than I can count!  I’m pretty sure most of you have too, but I can’t help but wonder if we really believe it.  If we do, why aren’t we out there giving more?  Oh I know, many of you do, but why am I, personally, so slow to see and address the needs of those less fortunate than me knowing full well that as a child of God, He is going to take care of my EVERY need?  He promises to do so, and I believe that promise. The law of giving is a natural law set in place by God himself and who am I to argue with that?  Oh, I've always got some excuse, "They'll just spend it on booze" or "I would help that person but I'm in a hurry right now."  Really?  I want to be more like Jesus and I know he would have stopped to help or shared what he had without hesitation.

This giving thing is really cool and I’m excited about spending the rest of my days being a more giving person.  I know, the gift card was just a small thing, but what a large, golden lesson I learned that day, hidden in a planter, tucked inside that golden egg just waiting for me to find. 

Here’s hoping you have an “egg-cellent” day!

Let go...

It's been awhile since my last blog update, but lately I have been feeling a little bit unsettled.  Who knows why?  Maybe it's the weather.  You know the feeling, when old man winter is trying to hang on for all it's worth, but Spring is coming on full speed ahead.  You never know how to dress, whether to take a heavy coat or just a light jacket.  But really, that's probably not the root of my distress.

I know!  It could it be the political unrest in our country and the fact that no matter what form of media we are exposed to, it's just more of the same gloom and doom.  That could drag even the most positive of people down.  I've got to admit, the current status of our economy and the erosion of traditional family values is terribly upsetting to this traditional, ultra conservative girl, but I don't think that's it either.

Do you want to know what I believe is making me feel unsettled? (I''m sure you're on the edge of your seats just waiting for this one!)  Here it is.  It's the realization that life as I know it is about to change in a very dramatic way.  (No, I'm not divorcing my husband and running off to another galaxy with Patrick Stewart, although over the course of our 29 year marriage I have threatened to do so many times!)  BTW, if you don't know who Patrick Stewart is, he was Captain Jean Luc Pickard of the Starship Enterprise, (Star Trek - The Next Generation.)  He is one of the only famous people I've ever looked up to.  Oh, and don't worry....the hub knows and allows me this one infatuation.  :)  


Anyhow, the big change is coming at the end of May, when my youngest daughter Lindsey will graduate from High School, then go off to college in the Fall.  I know, I know....everyone has to go through the old "empty nest" thing, but this is not supposed to be happening yet....not now....not this soon.  You see, it was only a couple of years ago in the delivery room at East Ridge Hospital in Chattanooga when I literally "coughed" Lindsey out into this world - across the labor and delivery room into the waiting arms of my sweet husband who just happened to be standing nearby.  (I had a bad case of bronchitis and despite the nurse warning me not to cough, I ignored her warnings and coughed our little bundle of joy right out like a speeding bullet straight into her Daddy's arms!)  True story!  

And wasn't it only weeks ago when we laced up her first pair of high top basketball shoes to play co-ed, rec-league basketball at the age of five?  I will always cherish those early Saturday mornings at the elementary school gym where my baby girl learned the fundamentals of a game that she would quickly grow to love.  Oh, and the pig tails, who can forget the little curled under pig tails that became her trade mark "do". 

 I'll never forget dropping her off at school, clothes clean and crisply ironed with a pretty bow in her hair.  When I would pick her up in the afternoon, she was usually muddy from head to toe and no hair bow in sight.  That was just Lindsey.  One day, I drove up to the after school pick-up line in our brand new mini van and they brought Lindsey out in a lawn and leaf trash bag because she had skidded head first into a mud hole on the playground and they didn't want my van to get all dirty.  And I'm sure it was only yesterday when, while on a family vacation to Florida, Lindsey ran up to a vending machine on a restaurant dock, grabbed a big handful of fish food remnants, crammed it in her mouth and said, "mmm, peanuts!" 

The sleepovers, cuddling with her sister watching television, the family trips to Disney, year round team sports, the friends, the laughter, the tears...all these times we thought would never end are about to become distant memories to hold forever in the special place in your mind where only parents can go.  I'm sure I will have to visit there many times in order to make it through this next year.  You know, if I could, I would do the old "back to the future" thing and run the clock back just to get to relive these moments, but I know I can't.  (Where's Michael J. Fox when you need him?)   

I was just talking to my dental hygienist today and she told me a sweet story of when her daughter left home for the first time and she went into her room, knelt by her bed and cried, then her husband joined her.  (I can so see us doing that and I even teared up when she was telling me about it.)  She went on to say that "Yes, it's hard, but once you get through the initial hurt, it's really good."  I have already been through some letting go with my oldest daughter Briana, but she, her husband and sweet little Tatum are here with us every day, so that makes it a little easier on that front.  I'm sure I'll live through this.

But to me, there is nothing that compares with being blessed to be the mother of my two beautiful, talented and precious gifts from God, Briana and Lindsey.  I look to their future with great hope and faith that God will keep them in his hand and guide them all the days of their lives.  After all, the Bible tells us.... 

"Train up a child in the way he should go: 

and when he is old , he will not depart from it.

Proverbs 22:6

I'm going to claim that promise.  Love yall and thanks for visiting my blog!