5:57 p.m. Today's project was to host a little Super Bowl get-together with friends, and then go to our Home Fellowship meeting. That plan was changed by early this morning upon receipt of an email from our HF leader Mark, telling us that the meeting is cancelled because the host Gilbert is seriously ill, just released from the hospital!
Well, I thought, we'd watch the game and funny commercials, and then visit our daughter Heather's Church, Sandals, for their 7:00 service. Normally, we'd still be way out in Moreno Valley ending up our fellowship, and it would be 7:30 before we could arrive. But that wouldn't work, because she and Nick would be at a Super Bowl party with friends, so they wouldn't be going to that service, sigh...it will be quite a while before her dad and I get another opportunity.
Meanwhile, Steve and I had heaping bowls of homemade chili and took the dogs for a short walk, and then settled in for the game. Seems our friends' out of town guest stayed later than expected, so we had a pretty quiet afternoon going. I like football enough to follow it "over to the side," as it were, listening with one ear to the plays and touchdowns while doing other things, like making sure Steve had a consistent supply of nachos.Thinking of a project, I got my coupon holders out of the Jeep for a little mindless clipping while watching the game.
Then it hit me: I looked over at the mock copy of Galatians: An Exploration of Faith and Freedom, and realized that I hadn't filled out the online corrections form due back to Tate Publishing by February 19. Seemed like as good a time as any to get to work, because the noise from the tv wouldn't distract me.
Several errors were already circled in red in the anecdotal and instructional introductory comments throughout the book, and tabbed with translucent neon green post-its (I love those things)! Now it was time to go through the question sections, looking mainly for punctuation and typos, but also for missing scripture references that weren't caught before. It got pretty nitpicky, but since my name is on this book, thanks be to God who gave me the entire Bible study back in the 1980's. And my desire is that readers and Bible students will not be distracted by tiny errors--or big ones either!! Happily, I got through the whole book and emailed the form to my layout editor. By the way she emailed me back so quickly, I take it she wasn't tuning in too carefully to the Super Bowl, either!
Solomon talks about people staying up all night worrying about their work in Ecclesiastes 2:22-23, NLT:
So what do people get in this life for all their hard work and anxiety? Their days of labor are filled with pain and grief; even at night their minds cannot rest. It is all meaningless.
I personally would not characterize the laborious efforts that come with being a wife, mother, teacher and Bible teacher as no more than meaningless anxiety! I am one who finds great joy and satisfaction in my life's work. But the cynical Preacher himself gives the reason for true satisfaction in life--looking to God as the source for all true pleasure and satisfaction. Verse 25-26 says,
For who can eat or enjoy anything apart from Him? He gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to those who please Him.
He also gives a great sense of calm when changes come one upon another. And God's knowledge of what is going to happen is a priceless facet of His character that we can always count on.
And God has a sense of humor, too. By mid-afternoon our guest bathroom suddenly became unusable--good thing our friends never did come over!
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