POTPOURRI

In the weeks since I started this blog, I’ve tried to take something that’s happened during the week and use it as the inspiration for the current Sundays with Cindy. This week several things occurred that inspired me, and since I couldn’t choose which one to use, I decided to do a little potpourri, if you will, of several thoughts. I doubt that there is a common thread that ties them all together, but hopefully they’ll be amusing and a little thought-provoking at the same time.

Wednesday was April Fool’s Day. It wasn’t quite the same this year as it has been the last few years with Laurie’s girls gone. Gabi, especially, is a prankster, and she and her sisters would usually spend a great deal of thought and effort on trying to pull off April Fool’s jokes on their parents, and especially Grandma. With them in Ecuador now, the day passed very quietly, except for a wake-up call I received from Bob that morning.

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“Happy anniversary!” he said. No, it wasn’t our wedding anniversary, but the thirty-ninth anniversary of the day we got engaged. (I’m impressed year after year that he remembers!) Most guys these days try to plan a romantic evening when they pop the question, usually on a significant day like Valentine’s Day or Christmas, or the girl’s birthday or the anniversary of the day they met—but not Bob. Nope, he chose April Fool’s Day. Most guys, too, might choose a romantic setting—a beach or a mountaintop, or at least a fancy restaurant. Nope, again. Bob pulled out that little black box with the ring and surprised me in my parent’s living room with the whole family sitting there and looking on. That’s okay. Who needs romance? We started off laughing and he’s kept me laughing all these years. It turns out April Fool’s Day 1970 was the perfect day for us to get engaged. It was just a sign of things to come!

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The book of Proverbs has a lot to say about fools. My favorite, though, is, “Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.” (Proverbs 17:28) Another that is similar is Proverbs 29:11: "A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards.” My dad used to quote the modern-day version, “Better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt." I’ve regretted a lot of things I’ve said in my life, and acted foolishly, as well. I hope with age I’ve learned some lessons and been a little slower to speak and act until I’ve had time to think first.

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Hmm, I wonder if Bob has ever regretted opening his mouth and popping the question on that April Fool’s Day thirty-nine years ago?

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The older I get, the lazier I’ve become—at least when it comes to housework. I’d much rather be sitting with my computer on my lap or playing with Robbie than scrubbing floors or cleaning bathrooms. Oh, don’t get me wrong—with just Bob and Robbie and I here now, the house usually stays fairly neat. When the dust gets thick enough that I can write in it, I get busy and tackle it. It helps that my eyesight isn’t what it used to be. I suspect there may be more there than I can see.

I feel for my daughter Julie. They are trying to sell their house right now. In just six weeks David is being transferred from Louisiana to Alabama, and they need to get this house sold, another one bought, pack up and move. They spent two months doing all the projects that would take their house from “lived in” to “designed to sell.” Since they put it on the market three weeks ago they have worked hard to have it looking like the perfect model home every minute of every day just in case they should have a showing at a moment’s notice. It’s been difficult—especially since they have three young children and Julie home schools them, as well.

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They are also in the middle of trying to adopt two or three children from El Salvador. It has been a long, very slow process and some of their paperwork for immigration is about to expire. They have to have another home study done because of that, so on top of everything else this week, they were busy collecting updated references, doctor’s reports and police reports. They had to go get their fingerprints done again. This time, rather than using ink and a card as they had done the first time, their fingerprints were taken digitally. That was fine for David, but they were having a terrible time getting the fingerprints off of Julie’s hands. They finally settled for what they could get, and hopefully immigration will accept them the way they are.

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Julie was telling me about this experience and said, “I think perhaps it was because I’ve been doing all this housework every day, and maybe the cleaning products have marred my fingerprints.”

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I laughed and said to her, “Are you trying to tell me you’ve worked your fingers to the bone?”

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She burst out laughing and said, “Yes! Now if only I could just work my butt off!”

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That was my best laugh of the week! Now, what little nugget of spiritual truth can I find in this exchange? Well, there is I Corinthians 15:58 which says, “…always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord,” and Galatians 6:9, “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” Hang in there, Julie! All that hard work will pay off in the end. Now, if I could just apply that to my diet and work my…well, you know!

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Robbie is a true music-lover. He might be mentally-challenged, but he actually has quite a good ear for music. He is very discriminatory and when the music is off-key he lets us know! He makes faces and fusses and looks at me as if somehow I’m to blame—or at the very least I should somehow fix it. There were times in the past when we would be in church with him and someone would sing a special number not very well. Robbie would get all upset, casting accusatory glares at the culprit and starting to cry, to the point where it was actually embarrassing because everyone around us could see what the problem was. We just prayed the singer didn’t realize why Robbie was suddenly upset! On the opposite end of the spectrum, when the music is harmonious and on-key he nods his head majestically and is all smiles, listening intently and exhibiting his royal pleasure. It’s so funny, and at the same time amazes us that he has such a good ear.

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A couple years ago I started playing the harmonica for him. It happened by accident when I picked up a toy harmonica and played a few little tunes. He really seemed to like it so I kept at it, practicing a couple hours a day when I would lie down with him before naptime or bedtime. After a day or two of this he was just tolerating me (remember, I was still learning.) but a week or so later I actually was getting pretty good! Bob went out and bought me a real harmonica, and before you knew it, Mommy could actually play hundreds of songs for Robbie! It is our special time together and he smiles and kisses me when I play for him, signing, “More, more!”

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The good things about a harmonica are that it is very easy to learn to play, it is relatively inexpensive, and you can take it with you anywhere. It goes with us when he is in the hospital. Once he is feeling well enough to enjoy it, I close the door to his room and play it quietly for him. It’s a comfort to him.

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I’ve gone through a couple harmonicas already in the last two and a half years. This week several of the upper notes on my harmonica began sounding “off”— and Robbie had a cow! Oh my goodness, Mommy was torturing him! He made ugly faces and whined, he grabbed my hand and tried to pull it away, he “tattled” on me to Daddy when Bob came in to see what the fuss was. Yesterday Robbie gave Mommy an early Mother’s Day gift—a new harmonius harmonica!

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I have always liked the fourth chapter of Ephesians. If I could give it a title I would call it “Living Harmoniously.” The last two verses kind of sum it up, “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.” Whether we are speaking of within the Church or our families or any other relationship, the Lord wants us to live in unity of spirit, not in discord. I wonder how our speech sounds to God every day. When we are angry, or harsh, or hurtful, or fighting, does the sound of our discord hurt His ears the way the wrong notes bother Robbie? Is our loving, kind, gentle, forgiving speech beautiful music to Him? Let us try to live harmoniously with our spouses, our children and other family, and our brothers and sisters in the Lord! It is music to God’s ears!