A Year of Being Kind blog – Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Being of Service, Even Though I Had a Splinter . . .
Today was a busy day. Lots to do at work, with a sermon to block out and outline, but email to answer. Calls to return, even some paperwork to take care of. (Yes, there’s still paperwork. The church has not gone paperless yet.) Plus, I am still helping my daughter get ready for move-in day on Friday. I did three loads of laundry between late last night and early this morning. Almost all for her, I may add.
Yes, that was my big task of being kind for today. But I needed to prepare for tomorrow, too. I am participating in a hymn sing at a senior residence facility in Chicago in the afternoon. I am going to play the piano and lead the seniors in hymns and gospel songs. I am looking forward to this, very much! It will be so good to see many of these seniors again.
But—I’m not there yet. I was still at my church this afternoon, handling some necessary things, on the computer. I sat at my desk. The desk is large. Wooden. Mostly plain, except with a rather fancy edge trim, all around the top. Little lip, inset, out again, and then straight down for about half an inch. I must admit, I never really thought about that edge before. That is, not until this afternoon. Not until I happened to bump my left hand against that little lip. My hand was on its way up to the laptop computer keyboard, I got distracted, and bump! I ended up with a tiny sliver in the tip of my middle finger. That sliver? About one quarter of an inch long.
I ended up spending almost an hour getting the sliver out. I went to the kindergarten teacher (it was nap time). I asked whether they had a needle anywhere around. No. Only a set of plastic tweezers. I searched in the church office, just about everywhere. Finally, I found a pin. A large pin with a decorative head, probably used for securing a corsage. At least it was sharp! I washed the point off with soap and water and proceeded to pick at the splinter. I finally removed it, bit by bit.
That little splinter totally preoccupied my mind for almost an hour. Such a little bit of a thing was huge in my mind and my feelings.
All this time, I dearly wanted to practice the piano. I haven’t played for a number of days, and I wanted my fingers at least a little limber, to be better able to play tomorrow afternoon.
Yes, I did finally practice. And yes, I did continue helping my daughter pack, and get ready to leave. Being kind, and being of service. Preparing for more service to come.
Now, God, there’s still the matter of that sermon . . .
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