Verse of the Day - Psalm 19:14

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
~ Psalm 19:14 (NIV)

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Yesterday morning, I headed to the laundry room to get some wash done. I put my quarters in the machine and pushed. After the water ran for a just a little while, I lifted the lid so I could put the soap in. ARGH! Someone else's towels were in there, and getting all wet! Well, I couldn't very well attempt to put them in the dryer like that -- they were too wet. So I lost $1.25 to let their load go through the cycle so it could spin out the excess water.

The dryer is $1.00 and takes an hour. So, knowing it was the right thing to dry these towels and not just let them sit there for who-knows-how-long to possibly get moldy, I dried them. Now I'm out $2.25 for someone else's laundry. I'm a little irked, but not badly. It's just taking FOREVER for me to just get this one blanket washed, not to mention using up all my precious quarters.

An hour goes by, and when I went to put my blanket in the dryer, would you believe those towels weren't even halfway dried!?! Oooohhh, now I'm getting peeved. But, alas, the right thing to do is to put yet another $1.00 into the dryer to get these towels dry. (btw, I don't even know which of my two neighbors owns these towels -- the new guy upstairs, or the family downstairs...). I've done the right thing, but my heart isn't right. I'm irked, and just wishing people wouldn't be rude and leave their stuff in the laundry room when other people (like me!) want to use it. grumble...grumble...grumble...

So, finally -- another hour has passed and, surely, those towels should be done by now, which they were. But a funny thing happened to me when I began to fold those towels -- the Lord seemed to soften my heart, prompting me to be gracious about the whole thing. As if the Holy Spirit was saying, So what, so you lost $3.25. Consider it a Christmas gift to one of your neighbors. You're not so broke that this is really hurting you financially, and you're on vacation, so you have no real timetable. Give up the irk. Be gracious and kind.

So I folded the towels with a whole new attitude -- gone was the internal grumbling and in it's place was just love and good will. And not one minute later, my neighbor (with the large family) came to the laundry room door! She saw me folding her towels and greatly apologized for one of her teens who was in charge of that load. One of the teenagers looked toward me and said, "I love this lady!" When I explained that they were left in the washer and needed double drying, my neighbor put her hand out to me, full of quarters. The Lord gave me grace to gently refuse the quarters with a smile on my face and wish her a Merry Christmas. I finished folding the towels, and she gave them to the teen to put in the house. We chatted briefly and then I went home, with a smile on my face and a smile in my heart.

God spoke, and I listened. I recognized my selfish heart and did an about-face, by the power of the Holy Spirit. And I think I made an impact on a few people yesterday that, I believe, needed to see love in action. Yesterday was a great day!

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, Oh Lord...

Every day, we are given opportunities to give love and grace, to shine God's light. Sometimes, we're not where we should be in our attitudes, but if we're attuned to God, we can make right what is going wrong inside of us. I can sure testify to that! So, be aware of your words and the meditations of your heart, and let God make changes as necessary, because being Christ-centered is an amazing blessing, and it pleases God's heart very much.

Love,
Joelene