Yesterday was a busy day in our home. I think you’ve probably had days like this, I’m sure I’m not alone. I started my morning out cleaning because I had a lunch meeting at my home which meant I also needed to prepare lunch. If you know me, then you know I love to cook. Preparing lunch was the fun part of my morning. I made Italian Tomato Bisque Soup (with pasta of course!) and salads with tuna centered perfectly on the plate. I wish I would have taken a picture!! The lunch prep mess was cleaned up and I welcomed my guest. We enjoyed our meal…until I noticed something…my guest didn’t eat her complete salad, instead she was picking things out of the salad to eat. That’s when I found out my beautiful salad…well- she’s allergic to lettuce! To make it worse, she loves lettuce. Way to go Karen- put something she loves in front of her…something she can’t eat. Uggg…Hospitality failure… At least she enjoyed the soup and I enjoyed our conversation- or at least part of the conversation. She was struggling with life and found it hard to focus on God’s blessings. It became clear that God wanted me to share the ‘what so ever’ scripture with her.
Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things. Philippians 4:8
We’ve all passed through tough times in our lives. We’ve all struggled in trust issues and faith. She was no different.
I shared this scripture with her and began to ask questions. The first question led to a chain of questions. What was it? ”What is your favorite season?” The following questions were related to her answers. Before you know it, she was alive, sparkling and laughing. When she left my home a couple hours later she had a glimmer of hope and a challenge to continue the ‘what so ever’ list.
A little later I went into my office to work on Sharing From the Heart ministry and knew I’d be in there a few hours. Imagine my surprise to come out of my office to find my daughter, Christin, had started dinner and intended to complete it. Thank you Lord! She made homemade wings with her own custom sauce, rice and veggies. WE LOVED IT!!! Again, no picture… Since she made dinner, I planned on cleaning up the kitchen but found I was too tired last night. Plan B was to wake up this morning and clean up. Imagine my surprise to wake up to a totally clean kitchen and to top it off…a homemade jelly roll made by Christin! She even cleaned up after that!! She left me a fun note:
Look, the desert gnomes visited last night & brought us a jelly roll. And then the chore fairies arrived & cleaned, including the dishes! You gotta love late night visitors!!
What a great blessing to wake up to! Today is a busy day and having to clean up would have made a long list even longer. I wonder if the dinner chef will arrive again tonight? If she does, I’ll be sure to take a picture! Speaking of pictures…here’s the picture of the delicious jelly roll I enjoyed at breakfast!
TODAY’S CHALLENGE- Start a ‘what so ever’ list of your own. It’s sure to bring a smile to your face and spirit! Oh, and share this scripture with someone else and begin with just one simple question- “What’s your favorite season?” and then begin the chain of questions with something like, “Why do you like that season?” One by one, we can help each other focus on Philippians 4:8.
