Kind Echoes

She Did What She Could: Five words of Jesus that will change your life is the title of Elisa Morgan’s latest book. I was fortunate enough to purchase a copy at the MOPS Convention and read it on my plane rides home.  The title comes from Mark 14:3-9 and I think it is important enough to include it here:

Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon, a man who had previously had leprosy. While he was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume made from the essence of nard. She broke open the jar and poured the perfume over his head.

Some of those at the table were indignant. “why waste such expensive perfume?” they asked. “It could have been sold for a year’s wages and the money given to the poor!” So they scolded her harshly.

But Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. Why criticize her for doing such a good thing to me? You will always have the poor among you, and you can help them wheneve you want to. But you will not always have me. She did what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time. I tell you the truth, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman’s deed will be remembered and discussed.

Jesus said “She Did What She Could”.  Elisa Morgan introduced that phrase to all the MOPS Convention Attendees last year with her SDWSC pin. I really liked the idea of delving so deeply into that one phrase. The book is divided into 3 parts. Part one takes each word of She Did What She Could and examines it. Part 2 asks and examines each word of the question “What If I Did What I  Could?”. Part 3 then finishes by asking and examining the We in the question “What If We Did What We Could?”

I have definitely read that passage from Mark in the Bible before, but never have I had someone focus my attention on that phrase from Jesus…”She did what she could.” There is some comfort there for me now after reading the book and a call to action. I know I can’t do EVERYTHING. Some days I get that SUPERMOM syndrome and really try to do it all and I end up not getting anything done; however, if I find what I am suppose to do and focus on that, then perhaps I too can hear Jesus say about me that “she did what she could”?

From the back of the book”

Most of us care. We really do. We care about poverty and injustice, about orphans and the sick. And yet, weighed down by everyday tasks of bringing home a paycheck, putting food on the table, and shuttling kids around, we question our ability to make a difference. Bombarded by one celebrity help-the-world-athon after another, we shrug our shoulders in futility and do absolutely nothing.

But what if we did….

Something?

Just one thing.

The thing that matters more than anything else in that solitary moment.

What if we did just that?

What if?

If nothing else, She Did What She Could encourages us to be aware of our actions and how they reflect Jesus to others.

Kind echoes indeed….

That was how I can best describe the afternoon yesterday. The sun was shining and I had on a light jacket. We wandered into the pumpkin patch ~ 4 out of 5 family members went on the outing..that is good. Each of us looking for the perfect pumpkin. I like the ones that are round and big. Justin looked for one that was tall and thin. Dan picked his favorite and I am not sure what Danielle’s criteria is for the perfect pumpkin. We then made our way to the corn maze. It is so fun to “get lost” in the twists and turns and to watch my family way ahead of me trying to decide whether to go right or left. Danielle is small enough that each row looks like a path for her. Justin just tries to guess and Dan is very logical in his decisions. I was so thankful to God for that day and those moments with my family. In one part of the corn maze there was lots of clover covering the ground and it appeared to be a green lush carpet. So beautiful. So nice especially compared to sections where there were down corn stalks and corn and uneven ground. After Danielle fell the third time I stopped keeping track. She was always quick to say “I’m ok” and get right back up again. We took some of the corn and visited the farm goats. They LOVED the corn. We all had a good time feeding the goats and I was happy to have my hand wipes back at the car.
Now I can’t wait to carve out the pumpkin and pick out all the seeds and bake them in the oven for a tasty snack. Just a little bit of garlic salt sprinkled on and I have a hard time sharing!
On the way out, we saw a bunch of small pumpkins, gourds, and even decorated pumpkins. There were white pumpkins sprinkled with white sparkles called Princess Pumpkins. I picked one up and gave it to Danielle and she politely gave it back to me and said she didn’t “need it”. Then she walked over to a basket full of odd-shaped, multi-colored gourds, and insisted Dan get her one. They were called Hooligans! LOL!
Sometimes the kind echoes can be found in a corn maze with the sun shining down as you walk along a green carpet of clover.

So, I took Danielle for a walk today. It is so nice with the weather not too cold, but not so hot and the leaves are turning colors and falling. I stopped when I saw what appeared to me to be the “perfect” leaf in the street. This leaf was complete, it had some green in its color, but also had red running through it. It was beautiful. I picked it up and showed Danielle and told her “Look, I found the perfect leaf!” Ohhh, Ahhh. She was so happy for me.
She ran over to the side of the road and picked up a brown, faded, wrinkled & broken leaf off the ground & with the joy I had just expressed said “Look, I found a leaf too!”.
YUCK, that was my first thought. Oh, she really doesn’t get it, does she? I thought also. Then I stopped. Whoa! Wait a minute!
I took her leaf and held it with mine and congratulated her. Then she continued to randomly pick up leaves, regardless of their conditions, and hand them to me to be put in a place of honor.
What a lesson for me. Maybe I have been spending too much time looking for the perfect leaf? Maybe I have been spending too much time trying to be the perfect leaf?
If only I could be blind to that idea of perfect like my daughter and see the thrill and excitement in everything and everyone!
You know if I pick and choose, how can I be sure I am leaving kind echoes?

Sparky, that was the name of our dog, who after being a part of our family for the last 13 years lost his battle with liver disease yesterday. He was a little dog with long skinny legs  & he was always so full of energy. It actually annoyed me at times his energy & his inability to be a cuddle dog. He kept his long legs stiff. So funny. He also had a love, a REAL love, for dirty clothes, particularly underwear. He really enjoyed chewing up all that stuff. We had to replace his blankets about once every 3 months because even as he grew older, he still chewed them up. He also enjoyed a good snack by going through any trash can available to him. That was a habit he just never broke, so when you come to my house you will see that all (yes ALL) the trash cans in my house have a lid on them. The lid was not always a deterrent, but it did help.

When he started to lose weight I was a little concerned, but I thought he was just getting older and pickier about his food. We pretty much kept him on dry dog food most of his life. Yes, he had bones, snacks from the table, and the occassional piece of clothing or trash pickings. When Dan brought him home from the vet visit and told me his liver counts were some of the highest our vet had ever seen, my heart stopped. No way, this can’t happen to this little 4-legged creature who really lived his name SPARKY. It was so hard to comprehend and as the days turned to weeks and I felt like I was at the vet’s office at least once a week it started to sink in. As Sparky found it difficult to walk around the block and had problems eating, going to the bathroom, and barking when someone came to the door I saw the reality. I was still in denial…I still clung to hope. HOPE.

That dog drove me crazy sometimes. He made me laugh, yell, cry and love. The amazing thing about him was his ability to ALWAYS love. He was love…he knew what love was. When someone in our family was out and came home, there he was running to the door EVERY time. He never tired…he was never mad…resentful…he just always loved. SO HAPPY to see any one of us. He greeted us as no one has ever greeted. The tail wagging, the body wiggling and jumping, and always trying to get a kiss in here and there.

What did we do to win his heart? Not much. Fed him, gave him a home, sometimes walked him, gave him a treat here and there. My mom…oh, how he LOVED my mom. She gave him a little bowl of milk with just the smallest amount of cereal in it and he LOVED her for that. What a treat from Mom-Mom. His last couple of weeks, Dan and I started giving him a small bowl of milk with cereal in it and I knew this week when he left it untouched that the time was near. A TREAT! You just say that word to Sparky and his Spark was evident.

What I wasn’t ready for or prepared in any way for was the emptiness in my heart and home. I miss my four-legged love. It hurts. It hurts that he is gone. What a gentle loving soul. I hope he is at peace now. He will always be in my heart. He left so many kind echoes….