One of our apartments was trashed recently and I was able to find a new renter that wanted to move in ASAP. That means I have spent every waking moment of the past week cleaning, painting, scraping, sanding, patching, vacuuming, grossing out, and THINKING. We also had our Young Women in Excellence Program (a feat in itself), Nikell is sick, and Mialee is worrying. I have been a little tired, a bit emotional, and somewhat frazzled; but overall doing fine.
What I am amazed about, though, is the little things....My brother showing up to help clean and move out all the tenant leftovers. My neighbor kidnapping my children and then leaving them with her husband (she has 4 girls, I have 3--he answered the phone that night, "The house of 7 girls and 1 man.") so she could come help me paint. My other neighbor, who has MS and is barely functional, calling and asking if I was okay because I mentioned that I was up at 3:00 am too. A friend who called because my name came to her mind a couple of times. They are all little things. Really, I was just trying to get through the mess because it was my mess and I didn't want anyone else to have to deal with my crap. But people came anyway and once again I know that God loves me...all of us.
The other night I was pondering a few friends that I have tried to keep in contact with over the years, unsucessfully. I get frustrated because these friends literally saved my life during high school and now we can't even converse with each other. But then I realized that God knew I needed help and He had people willing to listen and so they helped. And now that I don't need their help anymore, we've all moved on and separated. It saddens me that they aren't willing to put forth the effort that I am to keep our friendship alive. But at the same time, I am so thankful that they were willing to invest their lives in mine when I so crucially needed it. And so I cling to those memories and thank God for them. And now I relish in the knowledge that He never stops listening and new people will come.
So here is a big ThAnkS to everyone who listens.
2 comments:
Jeri Dawn, You are amazing. Really. I don't know how you do what you do. I wish I would have known what was going on so we could have come help you! We don't have jobs or anything so we might as well have done something productive especially if it would have helped you out! Next time bring your girls over or call us to come help! Thanks for being such a wonderful example to me. Thanks for letting us stay so late on Sunday. It was a blast. Love ya
I love how you caught those feelings with words. I have often felt bad for losing touch with some of those old friends, but I wouldn't trade the memories for anything!
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