Friendship Home, Lincoln, NE

My little brain has been in overdrive the past couple of weeks as I've taken on a volunteer situation at work involving a silent auction.

Every year, the doctor's at the clinic put on a chili cook-off at one of their acreages, and the different teams within the company try their best to win the trophy for the best chili! It is a lot of fun with horse riding, hay rack rides, fishing, and of course great chili of ALL kinds. Last year our team took the trophy home, no thanks to me. I am 'kitchen' challenged, but that comes from years of being spoiled by a husband who loves to be the chef.

So this year, the community council within the company decided to kick up the fun a little and have a silent auction for a local shelter for abused women called Friendship Home. A very worthy cause and one we have not donated to for a few years.

So with an auction coming up, me being the somewhat overachiever that I am, decided to get local businesses involved by donating to the auction. It has been a LOT of work and I'm still not even half way through my list, but there are still some wonderful business people out there who know the need and have donated some wonderful items.

I have been invited to a Mary Kay meeting tomorrow night to give a short talk about the auction and hopefully step out with a lovely basket of donated Mary Kay products. And of course, I'm going to stay and have a make-over! Why not? :) But I am getting to know Amy, the senior sales director, a little and she was generous enough to call me at work and ask if I wanted to give this little plug for Friendship Home to her sales staff.

God always seems to have a plan, if we just sit back and listen. The many years of having our own business had led me to some very generous and KIND people. Our community is one I am very proud to say is MY community.

Thank you, Lincoln, Nebraska, for still being a concerned and giving community.

Living Up to 100/0 Ratio

I've had an evening of reflecting and thinking. Here are my thoughts for today.

I receive an email once a week at least from Simple Truths. The snippet from the book they were promoting this week was on living and giving the 100/0 ratio: giving and doing at 100%, but expecting 0% in return. Hard thing to comprehend as we all as humans WANT something back for even the tiniest word or gesture. To honestly expect ZERO? NADA? NOTHING? Hard concept. But when you really think about it, it's true and it's the only way to be.

It also reflects the lesson in the book by Shel Silverstein "The Giving Tree". One of my all time favorite books for children that I think a lot of adults should read.

Sure, we all want notoriety and compliments. We're human. As a co-worker you like to be acknowledged for hard work by even one kind word or action. As a friend, a phone call or card in the mail brings a smile and you know they've gotten the message. As a wife, even a thank you is worth it's weight in gold after many years of being married.

But when it comes down to the real way God wants us to live, it really IS the 100/0 ratio. We do for others because we WANT to, not for any type of reward it could or would bring. Hard? Absolutely. Impossible? I'd say no, not if we're living the way Scripture tells and instructs us to.

I write this so that it can be more ingrained in my own mind and heart. It's a tough lesson, but really isn't the bottom line about others? And how THEY are doing? Jesus never put himself first. His heart is for us. Is my heart for others?

Think about it.

Patience HAS Been a Virtue

Ah, Labor Day Weekend - in retrospect.....

Three days of not being scheduled at work. Three days of lists. One and one-half days of running errands, 90% of which were necessary. But it all goes deeper than that.

My life's motto has been "Patience is a Virtue". Ask my kids and how many times they've heard that short lecture. But this Labor Day weekend, it really hit that through the past two years, my motto worked.

Two years. A lot can happen in two years. Think about it. Births, graduations, weddings, anniversaries, divorce, elections, loss and death. I was given the strength to endure, to keep going, and have patience in the last two years, even though I was ridiculed for my choices.

Many things have happened in my life in just a two year slot of time.

1. I've had a divorced daughter and her two children live here for two years - to the date.

2. I've gained two more grandchildren.

3. I have lost a house to foreclosure.

4. I have lost a business.

5. I have gained a new and better job than I could have ever imagined.

6. I enjoy a relationship with my grandchildren that I even envy.

7. I have been promoted - twice.

8. I have gained a new relationship with the love of my life.

9. I now know why God put those words of "Patient Is A Virtue" on my heart years ago.

10. Wonder what's next?

There's no pictures or stories with this post. This one has been on my heart all of this Labor Day weekend. I have been blessed BECAUSE I've chosen to be patient. So many things just don't happen overnight, and sometimes blessing need to be waited on. I've BEEN blessed, and I will always wait for what tomorrow will bring.

Thank you, Jesus.

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