BEEN THINKING . . .

That visit the other day with my friend in the convalescent home has stayed on my mind. Spending that time with her (on a busy, kind of depressing day) really did a lot to lift my spirits. I mean I had a whole list of things to get to on my 'to do' list . . . and while I didn't mind signing up to go visit her, and I DO really find her delightful, when I started out that day, I was begruding the time it would take . . . a teensy weensy bit . . .

I mean, she IS my friend . . . and I do love her . . . but it was a busy day and I was feeling overwhelmed and stressed with the semester winding down, and the thought of all that I still have to do before I am DONE (including study for two difficult, comprehensive finals) so while I didn't mind the IDEA of visiting her at all . . . that particular day, trying to work it in, did not excite me . . .

UGH . . .

I HATE admitting that, but it IS true . . .

But it turned into such an absolutely sweet experience, that it has stuck in my head . . . and kept me thinking about it . . .

I think I am going to issue a challenge to myself, based off of that . . .

I think I will first try it for a week, and see how that goes . . . and expand it if it seems to be working well . . .

I am going to commit to working in at least ONE act of service every single day . . . It can be to a family member or a neighbor or a coworker . . . or even a total stranger . . . This idea really appeals to me, though at first I thought "Oh that would be cool to do once I have more free time, after finals are over" . . . but I think NOW is the perfect time to start it, even though I am kind of swamped and harried.

Let's face it, time is precious to everyone . . . ALWAYS . . . and perhaps this challenge will force me to be a little less self absorbed during this final little bit of school, and that will probably be good for me.

So . . . yeah . . . I am going to commit to doing at least ONE act of service every day, above and beyond what I normally do . . . so making dinner wouldn't count . . . unless I took time to make it on a day that I might normally run out and buy hamburgers for everybody or when I would be tempted to say 'ok, guys . . . its a fend for yourself night' . . . THEN I could count making dinner, but I would probably only count it if I went to some special effort to make it extra nice.

It could be something as simple as making conversation to someone in the grocery store line, or watching a movie with my husband because he seems to need some time with me . . . or maybe even just biting my tongue when I am tempted to say something hurtful or critical to a family member . . . or it could be something as elaborate as driving someone to a doctor's appointment . . . or watching someone's children because mama is sick or has a new baby or something . . .

It doesn't matter so much what it IS or who it is FOR . . . just that I want to sharpen my awareness of the people and situations around me, and I think it would be good for me to STRETCH a little to do these . . .

I think this will be good for me . . .