Lean on me...

Okay folks.  It's been kind of a day.  And by that I mean, it's been one hello kitty of a day.  I got everyone to a and b depending on where they needed to be.   I found a dress for this weekend.  I found a sweet shirt and tie for the hubs for the weekend.  He's gonna look nice.  Me too, I guess.  Then I went to the next store and found a curling iron for this weekend  I have been avoiding this purchase but it is time to pull the trigger.  The holidays are coming after all.  And the princess would LOVE some hot curling hair attention.  My chances of looking nice have increased.  Then I go to the next store.  I am about to go in and realize that I have locked my keys in the car.  Dang it!!!!  A dude pulled up next to me and ended up being a member of my church and told me that they have a slim jim at the church- which happens to be in walking distance from where I am.  They rescued me in about 20 minutes.  Which  is a miracle because I had to go and get my kids.  And also, when you are talking about your church, you pretty much should use words like miracle and blessing as much as possible.

We live in an individualistic world.  The message to fend for self and keep to yourself and mind your own have totally set the course for dismantling an innate desire and requirement for community.  (Hu)Man has never been alone.  Whether you believe in the hooey of evolution or the truth of creation, there has been more than one person walking around, always.  It's the way it is supposed to be.  And while a portion of that is about furthering the multiplication of the peeps here on the planet to enjoy it's existence (ironic given so many of the things we are doing to counter our responsibility to that end - and I ain't talkin' about global warming here), we are made to go through all of this together.  Things are so much funnier when you can laugh next to someone, exchange a glance and laugh some more until you start snorting.  Pain is so much easier to bear when someone is sitting next to you, squeezing your hand in support - sometimes so hard it makes you forget about the original pain.  So many of the burdens of this world are too broad for one pair of shoulders.  We just don't reach out enough.  We don't trust others to see us through the ugly.  We wear our game face and eventually we become a sea of masks - isolated and alone.  I'm guilty of this.  I grew up in a family of strong personalities and self-sufficient folk.  You don't air your dirty laundry.  You suck it up and stick it out.  But the hubs and I have been through just about the most devastating thing ever and had to accept love and attention and help to survive it.  Despite the lesson I learned then, I have to keep re-learning that this is how we were designed.  Someone else is blessed when I let them come to my aid.  I feel whole when I am able to walk with another person through their experience and offer them the one thing I am here to give.  I was given gifts and talents and a love that is all my own to take back into the world and share with others.  It's all part of my commission.

I offered up beer, baked goods and the like to the guys who helped me today.  I felt so frustrated by my inability to sufficiently express how grateful I was - how monumental their help was.  They accepted my thanks but for them, all they needed to know was that they were doing what they were called to do, what we all are really called to do - to see each other through.  To know and live as though we are all in this together.

Letting Kirk and the gang into my life and leaning on them gets 10 out of 10 Jenny's jewels.  It would have been my preference not to lock my keys in my car and be able to just walk into that store and buy my Hillshire farm sausages and tropical chocolate cake ingredients.   But God uses every experience as an opportunity to lovingly thunk me on my thick skull and reiterate how smart and awesome He is.  That I am not alone out here.  And remember, neither are you.