Busy Hippies, Earth Hour and Sabbath Rest

Do you ever have those times where you just know that God (the Universe, Fate, Karma) is trying to tell you something?  Perhaps you wake up thinking about your Uncle Joe. And then you see a commercial about a guy named Joe. When you get to work someone in the break room asks you, “want some Joe?” You go to Yahoo and see a headline, “Where is Joe?”    It starts to occur to you that you really need to call your Uncle Joe.

That’s been happening to me.

I can’t get away from “the Sabbath.”  Everywhere I look, there it is.  People send me articles about the Sabbath. My daily devotional is about taking Sabbath time. My youth group kids ask me about the Sabbath.

God is stalking me.

I have learned the hard way, over the years, that I need to pay attention when this happens.  Things work out better if I listen to the still, small voice, rather than waiting for the brick over the head.

So I’ve been thinking and praying about what the Sabbath is supposed to look like.  I found a great website that talks about how Orthodox Jews honor Shabbat.  Here is a snippet:

The rabbis who wrote the Talmud established 39 categories of work that cannot be performed on the Sabbath according to the Hebrew Bible. These include cooking, washing clothes, constructing, repairing, writing, making a fire, cutting, fishing, and so on.

The Sabbath restrictions do not prohibit everything that takes effort. On the contrary, Jews are encouraged to play games, take a stroll, study the Torah, sing, attend lectures, or make love with their spouse on the Sabbath. It is work that is forbidden on the Sabbath – play is encouraged.

The idea of Shabbat comes from the Book of Exodus, chapter 34. This is where God gave Moses the 10 commandments.  He tells Moses, “I made the earth in six days and then I rested.  Likewise, you should work hard for six days and rest on the seventh.”

It’s a gift! God knew that our lives would be full of busy-ness.  He wanted us to give us a break.

Now, being a bit of a hippie (in case you haven’t noticed), my mind wandered a bit further down the trail.  Maybe it’s not just meant for US, as individuals.  Here we are, hunting and gathering and tilling and buying and selling and wandering to and fro…  maybe God wanted us to give the earth – all of creation –  a regular period of rest.

That thought made me think about the upcoming Earth hour (read last year’s Earth Hour post here), which is coming up next Saturday, March 23 from 8:30-9:30.  Earth hour is an annual event, where everyone is asked to turn off their lights and other electric devices in order to save a bit of energy and raise awareness about how MUCH we all consume. (Go to www.earthhour.org for details)

What if all 314 million Americans turned off their power and refrained from driving, not just for an hour, but for an entire day each week?  The positive impact on our planet would be vast! (Or at least the negative ways we impact our planet would be vastly diminished.)  I can’t even fathom the impact of a large portion of the other 7 billion people on the planet following suit!  What if all those people “unplugged” and spent that day talking, laughing and playing with their loved ones? Whether you agree with my religion or not, surely you can see the value, to us as individuals AND to our lovely planet, in a time of sweet, beautiful, rest from the chaos of every day life.

I talked with Handsome Hippie Hubby about all this.

If I haven’t said it before, he is a kind, generous, gentle, infinitely patient guy.  He has never once sighed or rolled his eyes or smacked his forehead when I’ve come to him saying, “So, I’ve been thinking…”

If you had any idea how often I say that you would have massive respect for HHH.

He agreed that he was willing to “honor the Sabbath” with me… sort of.  We don’t have a day in which neither of us work and Sweet Hippie Daughter doesn’t have any lessons or such she needs to be at.  The best we could do was Tuesday – starting after band class – until Wednesday morning.  HHH was willing to give it a month and “see how it goes.”  I lobbied for six weeks but got the raised eyebrow.  OK. I know when to quit. One month it is.

So, starting tomorrow, we will be “off the grid” every Tuesday afternoon and evening.  We will turn off the lights, the TV and the computers (this is a very big deal in a house where everyone old enough to read has their own blog) and the cell phones.  We will park the car and put away the lawn mower and we will just… be.  Maybe we will take a walk or play a game or read a book together or just sit around the table and tell silly jokes.  We will rest.

I suspect it’s going to be a great experience.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

What do you think? Would your family benefit from “a Sabbath rest?”  Would the earth benefit?  What do you think Shabbat should look like?

Are you, too, seeking to save the earth, promote world peace and raise productive citizens without expending too much effort?

Why not follow LazyHippieMama on WordPress, by email or Facebook to get all the updates.

If we work on our goals together, they may be a little easier to achieve!

How Do You See The World?

I once heard Dr. Wayne Dyer say, “If you want to see the world differently, change the way you look at the world.”

What a powerful statement!

Look at this famous optical illusion:

image from http://www.moillusions.com

Do you see an old lady or a young woman?

Look at it a little differently.

What do you see now?

What you see depends upon where you place your focus.

Viewing the world around us works in much the same way.

Do you see the world as full of hopeless, endless pain and suffering?

I bet it’s easy to see that all around you.  It’s exhausting and demoralizing to live in such a world, I’m sure!

If you have found that particular worldview to be less than fulfilling I suggest you try to look at the world differently.

When you make a conscious effort to see what is good and just and beautiful you will find that those things are all around you as well.

When you find yourself in a world that is full of such Goodness, you will find that you are inspired to live a life that is full of love and justice and beauty.

Guess what happens then?

Other people become inspired by YOU!

It is a gorgeous cycle of positive growth!

It is life changing.

It is world changing!

Recently, I discovered the most wonderful little thing that helps me remember how I want to see the world:  Huffington Post Good News.

I “liked” them on Facebook and all day long they send me happy little stories.

It may be a story as “small” as a rescued pet or as “large” as a community coming together to create something extraordinary, but every story shows the beauty of the human experience.

And it really is beautiful.

If you find yourself wishing the world was a better place, I suggest you turn off the evening news and go looking for good news (at Huffington or anywhere).  I can guarantee, once you start looking for it you will find that it was there all along.

When you find it, pass it along.  When the day comes that we are all focusing on the good, perhaps the bad will cease to exist.

We Are Beautiful!

It’s not just any Monday.  Today is the Monday following a holiday weekend.

If you, like me, traveled and ate and shopped and played and generally had a wonderful time celebrating the Season of Thanksgiving then you are facing this day feeling exhausted and fat.

I was going to add, “broke,” but… yeah me!… I didn’t over spend.  Much.

No worries!

Lazy Hippie Mama is here to help you get your Hippie on!

Guess what?

You are beautiful!

I mean it!

You are really truly extraordinary.

Your body, even with occasional glitches, is a marvel of engineering!

You process billions of bytes of information every single second… even when you are sleeping!

You are able to eat and drink, take the nutrients you need from the items consumed, and pass the rest out of your system.

Even when you are feeling stiff and achy from too many hours on your feet at the mall, you are able to move with a grace and fluidity that is unmatched by any machine ever created.

I can mention something you’ve never seen… say…. the color of love… and your mind immediately begins forming ideas about what that is.

If you are injured, you begin to repair yourself within seconds.

Every day you fight off countless harmful bacteria.

You have the ability to use raw materials to create something infinitely greater than the sum of its parts.

What a marvel you are!

You are beautiful! You are gorgeous! You are wonderful!

Do you look in the mirror and notice that this is sagging or that is flabby or wonder where that particular stray hair came from?

Well, stop it!

Instead, make a conscious effort to notice all that is good about yourself.

Are your legs strong and healthy enough to carry you where you want to go?

Are your fingers agile enough to type?

Do your eyes see with clarity?

Do your ears hear tiny details?

Are your bowels consistently regular?

Does your heart beat, strong and steady?

Do you have those strong, shiny nails or thick, lustrous hair that other people pay good money to try to achieve?

When you make the effort to notice what is good, you will begin to see what all the fuss is about.

We silly humans have an odd quirk.  We judge ourselves so much more harshly than we judge others.

Recently, I was reminded of the folly of that way of thinking by this gorgeously written blog post.

Loving the world…. making it a better place for all of us, starts with loving yourself.

You are beautiful!

And so am I.

Now, go fearlessly into this week, giving thanks for all your blessings!

I will do the same, and I will start out by giving thanks for each one of you, dear readers.

Image from http://www.wellhappypeaceful.com

 

World Peace, Revisited

This is a very blurry photograph of my sisters and me. I would have posted a better one, but they all look like this… or worse, someone’s head is cut off. My mother is a lovely woman, with many talents, loved and respected in the community, but she’s not a very good photographer. Maybe it’s for the best. No one wants to look too closely at their 1980′s selves.

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!I feel so blessed this year because I get double the fun of the usual Thanksgiving.  We had our family celebration yesterday and today I get to travel with the 2 littlest Hippies to see my beautiful sisters in Indiana where we will celebrate some more.

And why not?!

There is SO MUCH to be thankful for!

In the spirit of the holiday (and because I’ve got to go finish packing or we’ll never get there!) I will leave you with this, from my first weeks of blogging, when only a tiny handful of Dear Ones were reading my posts.

I hope you enjoy it, and I wish for you all to have a beautiful, joyous, wondrous week full of gratitude!

I Know How To Achieve World Peace

Posted on April 14, 2012 by lazyhippiemama

I Know How To Achieve World Peace

At the top of my blog-site it says:

One Woman’s attempt to save the earth, promote world peace and raise productive citizens without expending too much effort.

So far, in my posts, I’ve focused on the Earth part.  Today, I’m thinking about world peace.  I know how to achieve it.  It’s not a guess or a theory, I’m quite certain I know!  Here’s what we need to do:

Get rid of all the lawyers and politicians.  hahahaha.  Not really.  Well.  Maybe.  But that’s not my idea….

Read the rest!

Jesus Never Had a Christmas Tree

My family lives on a screwy schedule.

Handsome Hippie Hubby works in the kind of fancy-pants restaurant you would love to take your family to for the holidays, presuming you had $1,000 to spend on Thanksgiving Dinner for 5 people.  That means that he has to work most every holiday.

I work for a church.  That means I get every holiday off, but am usually insanely busy the week preceding the event itself.

Over the course of the years we’ve just sort of adapted and started picking our own days to celebrate various occasions.  This year, Thanksgiving is today, Tuesday, November 20.

Oddly, as the aroma of turkey begins to fill the house and the pumpkin pies call to me from the other room, “Eat me!” I find myself with a rare moment of silence.

Handsome Hippie Hubby and Sweet Hippie Daughter are off on an errand for a few minutes and Little Hippie Baby is taking a nap before the festivities begin.

Ah…. I am thankful for moments of silence!

I love my family with all my heart, but sometimes my ears need a rest.

Since I had this time, I thought I would write a short bit, totally uninterrupted.

Ah… I am really thankful for moments of silence!  (Did I mention that already?)

I hear that people are all up in arms about “holiday trees.”

THEY’RE SUPPOSED TO BE CALLED CHRISTMAS TREES!!!

Last year at our house this is one of the symbols we used to celebrate our faith. Isn’t it pretty? You can call it whatever you like. I know exactly what it means to me.

I understand.

Really, I do.

Christmas is a Christian holiday, after all.  I am a Christian and this is the most festive time of year for me because it is the time of year when we remember that the God who created the entire universe, in all its glorious complexity, loved ME enough to come to earth as a man, experience life as my fellow humans and I experience it, face death… and conquer it.

That is a VERY big deal!

It is worth celebrating!

I understand that my brothers and sisters in Christ can find it  irksome that people of all faiths (and no faith at all) have hijacked such a sacred event and turned it into an excuse for gluttony and greed and excess.

But here’s the thing….

There are no Christmas trees in the Bible.

Maybe the Druids should be having a fit that we stole their idea.

There are no Christmas lights in the Bible, either.

Perhaps those who celebrate the Birth of The Invincible Sun God right after the winter solstice should be upset that we stole their idea.

I could go on and on and on.  Yule logs, mistletoe, fruit cake, wreaths…. all of these things can be traced back to traditions far older than Christianity.

Does that make them inherently evil?

Not in my opinion, though some would disagree.

For me, my gorgeous decorations, roaring fire and all of the yummy treats are a reminder of the extraordinary gifts of Life and Love and, above all, Saving Grace from the One True God who loves me.  ME! Can you believe it?!

If someone else just wants a meaningless “holiday tree” in their home, or a yule tree, or a Hanukkah tree, or a “big messy pine tree that smells good,” then so be it.

Instead of getting angry about such nonsense, I’d rather direct my energy toward loving God with all my heart and loving others as myself.

After all, isn’t that the single most important thing Christ taught us?

Christianity is all about LOVING… not getting offended at every little thing that doesn’t suit our worldview.

And now that I got that off my chest… I hear the pitter-patter of little feet telling me that the moment of silence is over.

It was nice, but I am thankful for the moments of chatter, too.  My life would be so empty without it!

Enjoy your day.  Eat some pumpkin pie.  It’s OK, because now you know that it’s Thanksgiving Day somewhere!

Encouragement For Scary Times

I have phases of keeping up with the news and current events and then fading out for a while.

I find there is a trend… if I watch/listen to/read a lot of “news” I start to freak out a little.

What the heck is going on in Iraq?  The polar ice caps are melting HOW FAST?  They put what in soda?  I can’t believe that resolution got voted down!  Did you know that there are people asking for permission for their states to secede from the union?

Oiy.

It gives me the urge to pack “bug out bags” for the family just in case we need to hike to safety in the Canadian wilderness or something.

The world can be a scary place.  ”There are wars and rumors of wars.”  There always have been.  It’s really nothing new.

Let me give you some other news:

All around you, good things are happening!

In Ohio, this church group came together to raise over $100,000 to help buy a new plane to transport seriously ill patients in The Congo.  Then, to add a personal touch, they sent a quilt to give comfort to the sick and hurting.  Each square had been held and prayed over by a member of the group so that the person covered in the quilt would be covered in love and prayers.

Despite ongoing reports of our economy being shaky  donations to non-profit hospitals reached record high levels in 2011.  

While AIDS continues to be a major health concern, the care for HIV and AIDS patients has improved to such an extent that the  number of deaths attributed to the disease has decreased by almost half in the past 7 years!

Lions Club International is reporting that they have been able to help promote good eye health for millions of children and adults around the world.

There are kind-hearted folks who have collected thousands of pounds of animal food and rescued hundreds of animals who were separated from their human families during hurricane Sandy.

The Tokelau islands have successfully shifted to running all electricity on 100% solar power.  Now that one small place has done it, perhaps more will follow!

Concerned citizens saved the life of a soldier who was on the verge of suicide when they heard about him on Facebook.

I bet, with the tiniest bit of effort, you can find lots of good news, too!

Be encouraged, my friends.  There may “be wars and rumors of wars,” but there is an awful lot of love and compassion and forward growth among us as well.

Now turn up your favorite music, sing badly at the top of your lungs, and spread smiles as you go along today.  It’s OK to be aware, but life it too short to spend it cowering in fear of the morning news.

 

Personal Happiness, World Peace, and Good Chocolate

I was going to write about genetically modified foods and the needs for labeling, research, caution, yada yada yada.

But, then, I thought…. what in the world am I doing?!

It’s Halloween!

 

Today, have lots of fun, and eat far too much candy.

Just today.

Yes, I’m all for living natural and eating whole foods.

Tomorrow, you can enjoy that self-satisfied fulfillment that fills you up like a pleasant aftertaste when you drink your organic green smoothie made from vegetables grown in your own garden which you fertilized with your very own compost – made from trash that DIDN’T go to the landfill.

Today – you should let a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup dissolve on your tongue and feel the sugar flowing joyously into your veins.

Candy makes us happy.

Admit it!

No matter how healthy you are and how much you claim to enjoy your salt-free boiled free-range chicken breasts…

you smile when you eat candy.

And, really, doesn’t being happy make us better, more peaceful, productive citizens?

I’m not talking about fulfilling every selfish desire you ever had or throwing all inhibition to the wind.

But, today, I recommend eating more candy than you should.

Think of it like an oxygen mask on an airplane.  You have to put your own mask on before you are able to help anyone else.  If you don’t you will suffocate and be no use to anyone.

Happiness is like that.  You need to allow yourself to indulge a bit now and then and experience the joy and silliness of life so that you can share joy and silliness with others.

Happy silly people tend to be quite nice to one another.

Eating candy today could be the key to world peace.

Do your part!

One night of candy** won’t make you obese or cause diabetes or give you permanent personality disorders (no promises on the short-term).

I’m pretty certain that whatever-the-heck they use to make “grape” flavor (have you ever actually tasted a grape that tasted remotely like that?) won’t give you cancer if you just eat it once a year.

I feel confident in saying that, no matter how much you chew, you won’t get cavities from one day of bubble gum.

So, just for today, throw all caution to the wind and enjoy every minute of indulging in candy – one of life’s great pleasures.

There’s more than enough time to talk about GMOs and other serious business tomorrow.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, there’s a Snickers bar with my name on it.

I’ll meet you back here, tomorrow.

**I think, if you endured the worst of Hurricane Sandy, your increases stress probably burned up a LOT of calories, so you get at least 2 days (maybe even 3) of wild, unabashed candy-eating.  (Based solely on my entirely unscientific opinion)

Freaks, Unite!

Here it is! The single (as far as I know) breastfeeding picture ever taken of me. Scandalous, I know. Try to reign in your horror over the blatant immodesty involved in breastfeeding.

Beware, users of plastic grocery bags and buyers of commercial personal care products.

There is a Hippie Underground.

They are out there.

WE are out here.

BWAHAHAHAHA!!!!!  (That’s my sinister laugh.)

I thought I was the ONLY ONE in my circle of acquaintance who believed in breastfeeding for at least a year.  But once I “went public” with that belief it turned out that most of the moms I knew felt the same way (in theory, if not always in practice).

I thought I was the ONLY ONE who wanted to use cloth diapers.  Now I know there are massive numbers of mommies wrapping baby bums in cotton (and bamboo and hemp and…. so forth).

I thought I was the ONLY ONE who was concerned about the reactions my baby was having to vaccines.  It turns out there are entire lobbying organizations that spend millions addressing the issue with the federal government.

I thought I was the ONLY ONE I knew who worried about recycling.  I started building a playhouse out of plastic water bottles and one of the ladies at church said, “I always wanted to try to build a boat out of milk jugs!”

I went public with my armpit vs. deodorant issues and found out that I know at least half a dozen women who haven’t used commercial deodorant in years.  I don’t remember any of them smelling bad at any point in all that time!

We all know that one hippie girl.  You know… the one that can look gorgeous and hip wearing a sari, even though she’s got pure white skin and grew up in Montana.  She looks better without makeup than the rest of us do after a full day at the spa.  She does yoga on a surf board, holding her rescued puppy, while communing with a dolphin and plays the bongos at her own wedding, while her husband does a ritual mating dance in her honor.

She’s so freaking COOL!

The rest of us just look like idiots if we try to do those things.

And no one likes looking foolish.

Except Jim Carey.  But he gets paid A LOT to be that way.

So we hide our hippie.

I say…

LET YOUR HIPPIE RUN FREE!

OK… maybe the hairy-legged, unwashed, pot-smoking, nudist within you should stay within. Far, FAR within.

But the part that loves music and laughter and peace and health and wholeness, not just for yourself, but for the whole world….  THAT part should be set free.

from http://www.sodahead.com

I say it in a silly way, but it’s really deadly serious.

You see, “normal” is what is done by the masses.  The mob defines what is “normal” at any given moment.

In the US, we live in a society where it is “normal” to eat pesticide covered, hormone-injected, genetically modified, chemically processed, foods but it is ILLEGAL in many states to buy raw milk or organic, untreated (ie. unbleached) poultry.

It is “normal” to feed a newborn infant a chemical formula made from dehydrated cow milk, dehydrated soy beans, and chemicals from a plastic bottle which leeches more chemicals into the drink, but it is considered rude and unsanitary to breastfeed in public.

It is “normal” to use disposable diapers, full of bleach and other harsh chemicals and then toss these waste-filled plastic storage containers into a landfill each day, but it is considered gross to use cloth diapers.

It is “normal” to let kids watch graphic depictions of sex and violence on television, video games and the internet, but it is considered sick to let your baby run around naked.

It is “normal” to use antibiotic soaps, household cleaners, and drugs despite 30+ years of warnings about “superbugs” and it’s considered weird to take a child to see a chiropractor or homeopathic practitioner.

It is “normal” to eat at a fast food place where each item is individually packaged in paper or plastic or foam, and thought to be unsanitary (and illegal by health department standards) to ask them to pack it differently, or in re-usable containers provided by the consumer.

I could go on and on but I’m sure you get the point.

As a society, our entire connection with nature has been distorted, if not altogether severed.  The result is a generation faced with terrible allergies, respiratory issues, chemical imbalances, and more.  Even worse, those kids are going to be left with a planet that has been badly abused.

When you “go public” with your Personal Hippie Freak Tendencies you show someone else that they are NOT the only one (breastfeeding, recycling, running fast, avoiding unnecessary drugs, etc).

The tide is slowly turning and people are becoming conscious of the fact that we cannot remain a consumerist society, dipped in chemicals and wrapped in bacon.

Bacon.  Wait.  I like bacon.  It’s so crispy and salty…. and  … oh… shoot… awareness… yes…. ok…

Sorry about that.

Anyway, the tide is turning, but not fast enough.  By being open about the “green” choices you make, you help others make good choices too.

How many more women would breastfeed if it didn’t seem “icky?”

How many more moms would cloth diaper?

How many people would buy organic, untreated poultry if they knew that millions were already eating it and NOT getting sick?

How many more people would ride bikes to work if it didn’t seem “nerdy?”

And you know what?

When enough people start making those choices, they will become the “normal” choice to make.

Cloth diapers will be easy to find in retail stores.

Raw milk will be on the shelf in the dairy aisle.

Cities will build more bike paths and less 14 lane highways.

Change “normal!”  Don’t hide your hippie! The world needs you!

Cover Page from Hippie Peace Freaks on Facebook. One of my favorite FB pages, by the way!

The Flat Tire That Created World Peace?

Mondays and Tuesdays are always the best days of the week for the Hippie Family.  Those are the days that the Handsome Hippie Hubby is home from work.  Everything is just a little more fun when he’s around.  He’s that kind of guy.

So yesterday I got home from my little shift at work in the morning.  We all ate lunch and then HHH says, “Let’s go to Toledo.  We can go to the mall and maybe stop at a few other stores for some things the kids have been needing.”

Aw, heck! I’m not going to turn THAT down!  I LOVE the mall!  The bright colors and sparkly decorations and the Musak and the smell of coffee and various food court offerings and all the interesting people….  I could set up a cot right in the middle and live there and be perfectly content.

So we load up the Hippiemobile and head off to the big city (hey – Toledo is a VERY big city when you live in the land of 2 stop lights!).  Everyone was content.  We weren’t grinning like a bunch of idiots but we were feeling OK.

Our first stop was a children’s up-scale resale shop.  This little store often has items that still have the original tags or were maybe only worn once or twice and they usually sell things for 1/2 the retail cost or less.  I thought it was worth a look to see if they have the Converse high-tops Little Hippie Daughter has been wanting.

The baby had fallen asleep in the car.

“Why don’t you stay out here so he can sleep and we’ll just run in and check for the shoes quickly.”

Hubby agreed to this, as he sort-of hates going in that particular store.

We went in, quickly saw that the back-to-school shoppers had decimated the shoe selection, and we were back out in 5 minutes.

Handsome Hippy Hubby was messing with the hubcap that had never been replaced after we bought a brand new tire a few weeks ago.

“If I can just fit it into HERE….” he said with a grunt and a shove and then….

SNAP! Hisssssss…………”

Aw, fudge.

Image from http://beautyliesinthetruestory.blogspot.com

This happens a lot in our world.  I have a theory.  I think that my husband is secretly a super-strong alien from another world and, not understanding his own power, things just get crushed under his hands.  It’s not his fault.  It just happens.  A lot.

In this particular incident he had pushed on the hubcap in the wrong way and broken the valve stem on the tire.

As my own personal Clark Kent began changing the brand new tire out for our little donut spare the muttering outside the car sounded, to me, something like, “Don’t know why…” mumblemumblemumble “Stupid!” mumblemumblemumble “Eight-six dollars!” mumblemumblemumble “Can’t just…”   mumblemumblemumble “go to the mall!”

You get the idea.

He got in the car, frustrated, and looked at me.

“I think there is a Walmart with an auto center down the road,” I said.  ”We’ll go get it fixed.  It’s just the stem.  It will be OK.”

“Hrbaredahlkjfelupmf,” he replied.

The baby was still sleeping.

Thank God for the small things!

Only a block or two down the road we saw a Tireman Store and got lured into the parking lot by the giant window sign that said, “We repair tires, no matter where you bought them!”

Handsome Hippie Hubby goes in.  Comes out.

“It will be about an hour if we want them to take the car in the garage.  They’re swamped, but he said he’ll take care of it right away if I just bring the tire in.”

And so he did and, not five minutes later he was coming back out with it.

At this point, he’s visibly feeling much better.

He puts our tiny little jack under the car and goes to work switching the tires for the 2nd time in a matter of minutes.

“Let me help,” said a random voice of kindness.

And there stood Tireman.

He kind-of looked like this. Except he was blonde with a goatee. And a face. And he wasn’t wearing a wet-suit, as this guy appears to be. I don’t specifically remember, but I’m pretty sure he was wearing shoes of some sort.

Well, not THE Tireman (I don’t think), but some guy who works there.  He was standing next to our car with some kind of massive rolling thing and, what looked to me like, a drill.

He put the massive rolling thing under the car and, in about 3 seconds, the whole left side of the car was up in the air.

He used his drill (pretty sure that’s not really what it was) and, in another 3 seconds, our freshly repaired tire was back on.  An added bonus, the drill-thingy (technical term) made the car vibrate, which sent Hippie Daughter into fits of giggles.

A smiling hubby climbed into the car and we were on our way.

“Everything better?” I asked.

He was thoughtful for a moment.  I do love that about him.  ”It’s better than when we started!”  he replied.

You see… having something “bad” happen to us allowed us to experience a great kindness.  How kind of the men in that store to offer to help us right away, instead of making us wait.  How nice that the mechanic left the garage and came into the parking lot to assist us.  How generous to offer his superior tools, making the job faster and easier.  It was just a little job… all together it only took those guys a minute or two to get us back on the road, but they didn’t need to give us those 2 minutes.  They could easily have made us sit there for an hour.  They didn’t have to go above and beyond by helping us change the tire.

It was touching.

Sometimes angels are dirty guys in overalls.

And so we were on our way to the mall, not just content, but grinning like a bunch of idiots.

Thanks, Tireman!

It all makes me think, how much of a difference can I make today by giving just a minute or two of my own time and skill?  If I pay the Tireman’s act of kindness forward, to someone else, maybe they’ll pay it forward too.

Maybe our flat tire will be the beginning of world peace.

Maybe not.

But you never know!

It’s worth a try.

Fast Friday – The One and Only Extraordinary You!

I was intending to go a whole different direction with this morning’s post, but my friend, (dear, sweet, beautiful, kind, loving, Kristyanna – that’s you!) posted this extraordinary YouTube Video on Facebook this morning and it was just too wonderful not to share with you!

Click the picture and be encouraged!

If you never had Mr. Rogers in your life, you’ve missed a true treasure.  You should immediately find all the videos you can of him and watch.  There is pretending and imagination and singing and dancing and laughing and playing games and learning and exploring and always, in every episode, love and encouragement. 

What a huge statement he makes in this clip!

“Imagine! Every person that you see is someone different from every other person in the world.”

You are special! You are wonderful! You have some gift to offer the world that no one else in the entire history of mankind can offer.  If you choose not to share it, we will all be less that we could have been.

And me too! 

We crazy humans are only at our best when we can appreciate the extraordinary beauty of the way we are intended to work together, in peace and love.

Make a conscious effort to appreciate someone this weekend.

Make a conscious effort to appreciate yourself!

Grow a gorgeous garden of ideas in your mind.

See you soon.