8 days left of Thanksgiving...Goodness! and Mercy!

I just finished cleaning and drying the last of the chargers and the knives and the pie servers from Pie Night.  I think that the Pie Night leftovers that I took to work were 96.73% gone by about 9am yesterday morning.  People told me that they heard my laugh when I first arrived so they started heading towards my cubicle.  Now keep in mind that these were people who sit on the other side of the office.  Apparently my laugh carries...and I managed to carry it on to my oldest daughter...At least it's better than being recognized for my criticism, right?

And why didn't I have the cleaning and drying all done before going to bed Thursday eve?  Grandma Walton wouldn't have approved!

But I have two very good reasons why this didn't get done until today.

First, after every one else had left, a sharp, young man who is a daddy and a doctor (Dr. B) sat down and just started bringing us up to date on his life, and we didn't stop talking until well after midnight. 

I LOVE conversations like that.  Goodness!  And mercy! 

And people wonder why I do Pie Night?  It's for stuff like this. 

Some of my best memories of visiting R&E in Springfield are the late night talks we get to have with R about his life. 

That?  That. That is the good stuff, baby. 

This young doctor has dreams that are so much bigger than only medicine.  Medicine is but one tool in this man's tool box.  If...nay.. when he is able to make his dreams a reality, I will be able to say, "I knew him when..."

Second, we got a chance to take care of little J-man last night while Mommy went to see the new Hunger Games movie and Daddy had to work.  If you think doing dishes beats spending time with this little one and catching a bit of baby laughter, you are sadly mistaken.  Dishes can wait.  Period.

 

Goodness!  I do love this stuff.  Mercy!

 

And yes, you're right.  I have used those two words a lot - because I'm thankful for both.  And they came up in our conversation with Dr. B.  He was talking about asking other young people to follow him.  We do a lot of following these days, ya know?  People follow blogs and tweets and leaders - and even old girlfriends at which point it becomes stalking, but I digress.  Back to following Dr. B.  When he was talking about that, I told him this little story we heard recently.

 

Psalm 23 is one of the more famous ones, that is often quoted at funerals and gravesites. I've heard people talk about the "Lord is my Shepherd" parts or the "even though I walk through the valley of death, I will fear no evil" part.  And a sweet, supportive friend of mine often uses the phrase "my cup overflows" when she shares stories and pics of her family despite some chronic health issues, and you know she means it.  She knows her cup overflows!  But I don't recall ever hearing anyone talk about the last verse in this passage - the "goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life" part. 

 

Until a few weeks ago at church.  A pastor was visiting from Africa where his church has done a LOT to take care of orphans due to how prevalent AIDS is there.  He talked about how goodness is not easy to define, but we know it when we see it.  And he was also talking about how being and doing good should be good enough.  Our culture prizes things like greatness and excellence but good?  We don't so much prize that - yet one of the best rewards we can receive is to be found as a "good and faithful servant"...where good and pursuing goodness are good enough. 

 

He closed out by asking if we see goodness and mercy following us when we look back across our life?  Have we left a trail of goodness and mercy?  For others?  For family? 

 

Good questions.  Good pursuits.  Goodness and mercy.  And if we pursue those so that they follow us, that's good, and we leave a trail behind us of both.  And that is something to be thankful about.  Whether anyone follows our blogs or our tweets or even joins our teams to pursue big dreams, we will have spread goodness, mercy, joy, help, love, peace, gratitude, creativity, fun, hope, growth. 

 

Good stuff.  Goodness!  Mercy!