Small Blessings are Huge

Today, a resident came to my desk and told me that she loved having a mail room available to the residents. She enjoys not having to go outside to pick up her mail. Her mail is always dry and she stays dry, too. She appreciates having a protected mail box, where she knows her deliveries are safe and monitored. Being able to mail letters and packages, without making a special trip to the Post Office, makes her happy.

Her comments made me even more happy! I was the happiest!

As I have written before, mail is a huge thing to the over 80 set. And, I can say with absolute certainty, that her comment was the first positive statement that I have ever heard about the mail delivery at our Retirement Community. Every item, that "my new best friend forever", mentioned about our mail room, is true. We offer a lot of great perks with our superbly managed mail room, but up until now, it has never been enough. In four and one half years, I have heard nothing but complaints!

Until today. What a blessing.

Dear God, Thank you for positive people. Many of us cannot count our blessings, because we are too busy complaining about what we don't have. Keep us focused on the Prize. You!

Rewriting History.....

Currently, there is a heated controversy raging over which of the two statues honoring Missourians, should remain in the U.S. Capitol Building. Each state can only have two, and because wise pundits want to replace one of the statues with a likeness of the only Missouri president, Harry S (no period) Truman, one of the existing ones has to go. Seems like a good enough idea. Then, with Harry in place, we would retain the one statue, honoring the best and most noteworthy man, of the original two.  But, which of the two should be removed?
One of the current honorees, a Mr. Blair, was an avowed racist, but he is credited with founding the Republican Party in Missouri. The other, Thomas Hart Benton (not the artist, but the Senator), owned slaves, and held a seat in the U.S. Senate for 30 years. Uh oh.
In order to meet current purist thought, let's just eliminate all traces of slave holders in U.S. History. That would mean every city, State, building, street, school and park named for George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Then, remember to take down both monuments honoring them on the Capital Mall.
Then, while we are at it, let's destroy all records of any of our own ancestors that were slave holders. That would erase traces of folks all the way back in history, to pre-historic times. Slavery was not invented in the U.S. of A. Many cultures had slavery.
This is all a bit drastic, of course. History, it seems, cannot be re-written. And, furthermore, it should never be erased from our memories! If we don't remember our errors, we are apt to repeat our mistakes.

Dear Lord. We are who we are. We are products of our ancestors and of our own history. Allow us to see our own sins and show us how we can become better children of God.

Read

Rarely, all teachers will tell you, do students read directions. A math teacher can give out a sheet of problems and the students will all start to work them....even if the directions, written right at the top of the page, say "do not work these problems." Teachers try and try, but most students consider directions a waste of time. Children are impatient.
A lifetime passes and you would think that folks would get wiser. Somewhere along the line, people should learn to read directions. But, they don't. I see it every day.
There is a nice big sign, right by my desk. It is hung in front of the mailbox room. It's a sliding sign that either reads "The mail is in" or "the mail is not in." I make sure the sign is changed, every day after the mail is delivered. Yet, without fail, at least five folks, every blessed day, will ask me, "Is the mail here?"
I put signs on everything, mistakenly thinking someone might read them.
My signs often request, "Read this", "Please take one", or more importantly, "this event has been moved" or even "cancelled". No matter. No one reads them! It's just easier to ask the concierge.
I'm used to it. Some things never change.

Dear God. We need you help. Show us how to love and listen. Remind us to care about others.