What did I accomplish today?

have you ever sat at the end of your day and wondered: WHAT DID I ACCOMPLISH TODAY?

Me, too.

did I make the world a better place?

did I encourage any one or add anything to the human experience?

did i learn a lesson that will make me a different person tomorrow?

who did I help?

SERVICE is my CALLING.

i have always felt called to a life of service. as a young girl, i was the one who cleaned her room unendingly.  i was the one who cleaned the car out, if it got cleaned out. I was the one who LOVED and LIVED FOR those days when mom would rush around like a chicken without her head trying to get the house cleaned before company came.  i wanted to help. i wanted to be at the center of that hurricane.  i ate up every minute of that chaos, because i could see second by second that i way making a difference in my world.  it was on those days when i learned my most significant cleaning technique, too:  pull out a bed sheet, pile everything, and I mean EVERYTHING on it, and drag it into a room where the door has been retrofitted with a good lock.  Out of sight, out of mind, right?  it works.

i’ve used that method to get ready for company coming more than once in my life. 

once particular time i remember was when matt was little and someone unexpected came to the door, and we wouldn’t let her in.  bob kept her talking, arguing really, on the stoop, by the back door, while i frantically ran around picking up dishes and plates from a get together we’d had the night before.  I was stuffing them into the oven or under the kitchen sink as fast as my arms would move. 

i mean i FRANTICALLY did this. 

i didn’t want to be judged on a dirty house.  heaven’s no. can’t have that. 

but i was helping my family, too.  you can’t know how much until you know “the rest of the story”, which i will not reveal here today. no time.

getting back to today…  what did i add to the goodness in the world today, what of value; what of worth.

i will retrace my steps here and see what i have done and how it “might” have made a difference.

I STARTED my day by getting OUTTA BED.

i’m not sure that helped anyone, but maybe my employer, who got a receptionist, secretary, assistant and office manager to help him through his day.  i guess that might have been a help, although i’m not sure it made the world a better place, it probably did put him in a better mood.

i stopped by a favorite business establishment on my way to the office and bought my breakfast and a coffee. iced, please, with splenda.  i guess you could say i helped to keep a local business going one more day with that decision, and i kept a couple food producers going as well.

WELL done, LORI!

this morning i responded to a fellow sugar addict when she expressed how discouraged she was with herself and the food that speaks to her. i shared that grudges we hold toward others or ourselves are not at all productive and the sooner we set them aside, the better we’ll be.  i told her i believe in her, and that good intentions do mean something, regardless of the outcome they produce.  i really felt that she (and me) needed to hear that our attempts to do the right thing matter in this world.  i told her i believed in her, and that if i could do it, i knew she could.  i hope that helped her to feel more confident.

i logged on to facebook, and shared my daily devotional on the church egroup, and responded to a few more emails, both personal and professional. i shared some pictures and hit a few LIKE buttons on other people’s pages, and surfed the web for a new recliner for my baby.  he needs one. his is in terrible shape.  i found one i loved and it was on sale 2 for 1, but the location was houston, tx, and the store told me they would have to charge me $2K for shipping to NEPA. i told them i needed to think about my decision to buy a little longer…

at one point, i asked people to pray for my i-love-you-so-you’re-mine niece, Katie. Katie wants to work at the local hospital, and she has an interview tomorrow at 9:30–Wed, Aug 6th–so if you read this before then, will you pray for Katie? thanks!  i hope the promise to pray encouraged her and helped to make her day better.

Again, SERVICE gets my engine revved.

i bought more food at noon time, thus saving more food producers and local establishments from going out of business, and i made a reservation for my boss for after work tonight.  he will be enjoying good eats out of town.  i know he appreciates all the things i do for him.

finally, i responded to a few text messages, and did some other office stuff, and prayed for others who need it, and remembered the TEAM PUERTO RICO group members in prayer, and ordered lunches for customers, and LIKED the page of a personal trainer in the valley area.  does all this really make a difference in our world?  i’m not sure, but i hope it does. this i KNOW, God has us here for a reason and some days we may have no idea what that reason is, but we don’t have to, do we?  isn’t it enough to know that God feels like the world wouldn’t be complete without us in it?

THE WORLD WOULDN’T BE COMPLETE WITHOUT YOU IN IT!

one last thing:  today i learned who the new dr. who is going to be for the fall season.  i can’t wait to see the new episodes. in watching and buying the dvds from the show, i’m supporting a host of folks who have mouths to find and cars to buy, houses to outfit and kids to put through college.  that’s pretty cool.  a win/win, since i LOVE dr. who.

today, i think i made a difference, and i think YOU.DID.TOO!

i’m so glad you’re here.  every time you read this, or leave a comment, or seek to encourage me with my writing, you make my world a better place.  i HEART you. 

now get out there and do it all over again tomorrow!!

Hoose Out!