Blessed and busy Thursday

3:54 p.m. Today's project was to take care of many errands that won't be able to be accomplished on Friday, because of my preparations for hosting a table at our church's Ladies' Christmas dinner. I expect to be gone from 10:30 for my hair appointment, then a quick free (!) Chick-Fil-A sandwich, and then to church to set up my table, host and enjoy the dinner and program and be home around 10:00 p.m. after the cleanup!



My running around day began with delivering handcream and a free, decorated gift to a business owner in the Canyon Crest Towne Centre. I stopped in at Ralphs to get some milk and other groceries, disciplining myself to spend cash and only buy with coupons, except for the corn oil. Nobody's perfect, ok? Then, on a recommendation from Heidi, I popped into the Dollar Tree on Chicago, where I bought my white "Candle-lite" brand tapers for tomorrow night, square mirrors to catch any drips, 2 Snickers fudge bars, and two packs of some funky brand of AA batteries for a grand total of $7.00!


Back at home, I worked on gathering and wrapping tableware and decorations, and got ready for more errands. Steve and I went to Kmart to pay off and pick up our layaway gifts. What a long, tedious process, not because of the number of people, but because of one couple double-checking 28 separate items--and naturally, their toddler was yelling, making any kind of conversation near impossible! Oh well, we just "redeemed the time" together, and were so happy to get up to the counter and make our escape out the door and on to Petco, where we saved $9.00 between a sale on our monthly 40 lb bag of IAMS Large Breed, and our $5.00 coupon.


Next stop was the chiropractor's office to deliver some eye makeup remover to one of the massage therapists, making for two sales in one day. Small business still lives in the U.S.! Lots of driving, but we had a nice tour down Van Buren to Washington, through lovely homes and scenic views down to Indiana Street, our destination. A bank deposit later, we were on our way up the hill on Central.


Home again, home again, fiddledee-dee! Now I had to get serious about wrapping cups, saucers, creamer, sugar bowl, coffee and tea pots from my sets in newspaper, and Steve starting to place boxes in the Jeep. All that's left to do is wrap the dinner plates, pack them into the rolling suitcase, and I'll be ready for tomorrow. After four years, I finally came up with an idea to provide fresh, hot coffee for my tableguests without running home. I'll buy two or three cups of steaming hot coffee at a fast food or AM/PM after my table is set, pour it into the carafe, and voila! Hot coffee to put into the coffee pot later!

Isn't God good to inspire us, even in the smallest matters? Jesus told us in Luke 12:6-7, "Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. But the very hairs of your head are numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows."

As the song says, and I wholeheartedly concur, "His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He's watching me!" Jesus watches us lovingly, like we watch over our children, encouraging and whispering through the Holy Spirit "go this way--do it like this--wait a while longer to make that call--send her a note" in His still, small voice.

No concerns of ours are truly small, because the way we handle them shapes our habits and character. And character is what concerns our Heavenly Father.