We got to the four way stop just before a man in a delivery van did, but John waved him forward, “I’m off work right now,” John told me, “but he’s working. I want him to be successful.”
A few days ago I walked past a young man paid to pick up litter. Another person walking past said, “There’s a great deal to pick up after the wind blows.” As the young man agreed, the person added, “Some might say your job is insignificant, but I say you are as important as the landscape artist. If there were litter on the ground I would see it and not the nice trees and bushes. You make this area beautiful.”

My friend Amy is battling cancer and now re-battling it, but still much is going well. With chemo- brain, depression, side affects, and so many doctor appointments she has noticed she forgets to notice the good in life, soon Sundays her payer are thankful ones.

An idea comes to my mind, “Make a tiny dragon for my eight year old friend, Matthew.” Immediately this morphs into, “I can make little dragons for his brother and two sisters!” Before this thought is even crystalized the next one comes, “Make forty five dragons! One for each kid at church!’
This last imaged image crashes me to the floor, “How can I do THAT? Okay,” I say to myself, “Impossible! Throw the entire deadly idea out!”
I’ve noticed my mind loves to play and stretch ideas, but almost immediately a different part of my brain kicks in and says, “I’m accountable to DO them all!” Next, I panic and throw everything out.
Recently I’ve learned to let my mind play THEN I pull back and say, “I am not ACCOUNTABLE to do them all! Okay, which set of ideas do I actually execute?” In particular this dragon idea I made only Matthew’s dragon, but occasioonally the thought comes to me to do big jobs. In those cases I always have the strength to follow through.

I only pass his way a few times a month and usually only give him a hand shake and wish him well. Yesterday he sent me home with a big bag full of warm food. A charity organization had dropped off three bags, and he couldn’t eat it all. I passed the food on to a church which regularly feeds the poor. My homeless gentleman friend and I laughed because he gave ME food.

I watched a wonderful Nova program this week. It told me most of my calories go to my BRAIN!
This is my idea; I will eat a dozen doughnuts while I try to read a physics book! I imagine I’ll even LOSE weight!

My friend would ask his son; “What do you want for Christmas?”, later, “What do you want for your birthday?”, and, “When is your next wrestling match?” For the longest time the young man had only one answer, “I don’t know.”
When Christmas rolled around again my friend nailed together a strange and useless contraption, wrapped it up, and put it under the tree. The family made sure this strange thing was unwrapped last. The young man opened it, was greatly puzzled, pulled and pushed at it, and finally asked, “What is it?” The entire family answered with the stale term, “I don’t know!”
My friend then encouraged a group of us to set a goal, LISTEN for messages as we worked on it, next to follow through on the messages, and lastly to record the experience.
By doing this we would not, at the end of the day or week, say, “What did I do with my life?” and answer, “I don’t know!”

I’ve been encouraged to journal for years… because my children will want to read it. I’m guessing- probably not.
A friend mentioned to journal because I would learn of myself. That I can see happening.

About three and a half years ago God and I played. Over and over I had been thinking, “It’s not of great importance, but I would like to lose a little weight only three or four pounds. This was simply a thought and not verbalized for weeks then another though occurred to me, “Go ahead and say it out loud.”
So I did. I explained in prayer losing a little weight had been on my mind (and of course He knew that), and I didn’t consider it to be of high importance.
Within a week I was diagnosed with cancer. “Yea!” I thought, “That will do it!” A strong thought also came that I would be completely all right. The thought was so strong I had no doubts: unusual for me.
The diagnoses and reassurance may have been the most important part, but maybe not. I still laugh out loud to have committed myself verbally and received an answer so quickly!

I’ve worked under leaders whose goals were to constantly invent more to do and to point out a lack in performance.
On the other hand, one leader met with me regularly with two questions: what went well, and what would you improve? I NOTICED my actions good and weak. The result: I modified my skills into improvements, and I stretched creatively and sometimes with trepidation. It was exciting- exhilarating!
Another leader became my servant with all her questions and actions leading to only one goal- to help me become sucessful.

Last year I was mature therefore wise. This year I’ve grown overly mature and far beyond wise into a new world of forgetfulness.
I leave notes on the floor to remind myself of jobs to be done and events to see to, but my cat Formica Dinette Patrice Foxford Mauerman is a neat freak. She hates items left where they should not be and points by nodding her head at things left out of place, or not picked up.
As I grow further beyond wise, I’m very glad for my cat’s house keeping skills. I’m maturing into forgetting I’ve even put notes on the floor! Thank goodness I have a bobble headed cat.