Pleasant Surprise!

 

I was installing some lights at church Saturday and had debris to throw into the dumpster.  I gave the rusty sliding door on the dumpster a healthy yank, and it slid open as easy as you please!  I was pleasantly surprised and slid it shut just for the fun of it.  Again, it glided flawlessly.  Curiosity drove me to investigate the door track, where I discovered a layer of sleet/ice which made the dumpster door slide so easily.  The ice that made the walk to the dumpster treacherous made the door opening and closing a pleasure!  Often in life, difficult times have hidden blessings.  Sometimes we just have to look for them.  I Corinthians 10:13, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

Scissors

 

Friday morning at cardiac rehab I kept brushing off a fly on my left arm.  finally, I looked down to see that the “fly” was actually a string on my tee shirt that was flopping around tickling my arm.  I finished with the treadmill and went over to the nurse’s desk and asked the girl, “Do you have a pair of scissors that I could borrow?”  She looked a little concerned and answered, “Why do you want a pair of scissors?  What do you need them for?”  I replied, “I just need this string clipped.”  Looking relieved, she pulled open the drawer, took out a pair of scissors and handed them to me.”  Now it was my turn to look concerned.  I said, “Oh, they’re pointed and I’m not allowed to use pointed scissors.  Could you just cut this string off?”  And she did.  She was concerned that I would go postal on her, but my need was innocent.  How often are you taken the wrong way?  Or, how often do you take someone else the wrong way?  Paul said in Romans 14:16, “Let not then your good be evil spoken of.”  Today as you go about your life, if at all possible, avoid all appearance of evil.

Tongue Depressor

 

Each MWF on the way into cardiac rehab, I walk past a sign reminding all of us to use a mask when possible.  There are masks and a bottle of hand sanitizer just below the sign.  But walking out, I noticed the back of the same sign.  It was held upright by 4 tongue depressors taped to the back of the mask sign.  I thought, “How clever.  Some nurse used what she had at hand to stiffen the laminated flopping sign.  As a carpenter, I would have used a sturdy trim board.  A plumber might have used a length of thin water tubing.  And electrician would have used a thick piece of electrical wire.  Hey, none of the supports just mentioned would have been seen from the front of the sign.  They would have all worked to varying degrees.  The point being: supporting the sign is the whole purpose, whether stick, tube, wire, or tongue depressor.  Hey, use what’s available to you today to be a blessing to someone.  Today, be kind to people and uplift the good Lord above.  Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 9:10, “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might …”  Like the unknown nurse working at CHI, think outside of the box today … and be a blessing.