Some may have noticed (though statistically, 96.3% of you did not) that I took a few weeks off from the “One Good Thing” feature. Not because I couldn’t find a good thing to write about on a daily basis, mind, but because weeds growing over the keyboard are notalways a good thing, and between the weeds and various Issues To Be Named Later, I sort of fell off the wagon.
Way, way off the wagon.
In fact, I can’t even see the wagon anymore.
All that aside, I find it most helpful to remember my blessings on days when the weeds grow tallest – just as I find I need to pray most on thedays my schedule tries to permit it least.
With vacation on final approach (win, lose, or draw, I’m on a plane to Maui Saturday morning at ten), it seems anything and everything which could possibly go wrong has decided to do so. (The last three days before your vacation … brought to you by Murphy!) Case(s) in point: I have no less than four clients in need of serious, time-sensitive assistance, andthree more whose matters recently heated up to boiling (just in time for me to leave them sitting for two weeks). We had a death in the family. I’m suffering some kind of strange illness which the doctor considers an allergic reaction to Some Unknown Thingbut which I’m halfway convinced will turn out to be an exotic throat cancer or other malicious tropical virus I picked up in L.A. (Just because I’m a hypochondriac doesn’t mean I’m not sick. Really, really sick. *cough*) The car broke down this morning on the way to work (the parts won’t be in until tomorrow), and on top of everything else, the coffee went cold before I had a chance to enjoy it inpre-microwaved condition.
All things considered, I could probably write a pretty good country song.
But somehow, I don’t want to.
I had lunch this afternoon with friends and fellow Christians in town from the east coast. I’m going home to a family that loves me, and (LORD willing and the water don’t rise) I’m on a plane to Maui in less than 48 hours. (Note: I didn’t add “I’ve got my health.” See above.) I haven’t had a real, honest-to-goodness vacation in just about six years, and although it definitely seems I’m running into every possible circumstance which could delay, frustrate or overburden mebefore my departure, somehow I just can’t manage to work up a meaningful funk. The black dog finds itself banished from my shoulder, and my step has a semi-permanent spring – all due to anticipation. I anticipate running on the beach with my son, and watching his eyes widen at the sight of pineapples growing as far as the eye can see. I anticipate swimming and snorkeling in the Maui surf. I anticipate ten days out of the office, with time to reflect, time to write and time to learn, each in their appropriate turn.
In short, I anticipate a time of renewal. A time to enjoy the blessings of my life in a spirit of gratitude to the God who made them possible. A time, however brief, when each and every day constitutes One Good Thing.
And that qualifies as A Good Thing in itself.
Trackposted to Pirate’s Cove, Allie Is Wired, Right Truth, and Conservative Cat, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
