Day 3 - One Scoop or Two?

Day three. Overslept. Not even close to waking up to the alarm. Once awake, it was "surprise me, God," and on with the day. Only a few days in and I'm already having to remind myself not to take these three words for granted.

Wednesday is the day our staff meets to plan, pray, and eat. Just before I was to leave for this meeting I recieved a call from a nurse who is trying to help a friend. Without going into many details, it was a reminder that there are many good people in my world that genuinely care for others - even those they've barely met. It reminds me of Jesus.

Also before staff meeting I received an email from a new friend who passed along a magazine article for me to read. Though it was not directly related to the "Surprise Me" experiment, it sure hit right where I'm walking these days. Bullseye. Thanks, friend. I'm not even to staff meeting yet and God has dropped two nice surprises my way. Is this unusual or am I just more aware in the midst of this 30 days? I think I know the answer.

Several good things happened during the day, but I think the moment that stands out came during the evening. After arriving home I had the honor(?) of cleaning up after Sammy, the fourth member of our family. Sammy is a Shetland Sheepdog. And cleaning up after Sammy means . . . well . . . you know what it means. Though he took to "training" by the end of his first week with me (now eight years ago), he still has no capacity for picking up after himself. So it's me, Sammy, and a scooper. Joy.

Why recount this? In eight years I've never realized that Sammy is much like me (oh, please keep reading - now is a bad time to stop). As I scooped again and again it occured to me that I leave piles of litter in my wake every day - and not just for eight years - but forty-eight. That's more "scoops" than I care to recall. And I have no capacity to clean up after myself. Thank you God. You're willing to get "dirty" with me. To stoop down and make clean that which is not.

God, today you've shown yourself to me through new and old friends, casual conversations, "blog" entries . . . and Sammy.