College is full of busy days where you catch your breath in the morning and finally let it out later that night.
Today was a day like that for me. I awoke to the beautiful sunrise - sat through a few classes and was off to the races.
Meetings, responsibilities, papers, presentations...all looming over my head + the cold I've been warring with for the last week.
I felt like I needed to walk down the hill to the library and allotted myself 15 minutes to make necessary photocopies and to be back up the hill for some serious task-accompishing.Clad in my St. Patty's day attire - a green skirt, dress blouse, and boots...I'm not quite sure what came over me, but I found myself stopping part way down the hill to speak to an older woman raking her yard. "Hello!" I offered politely attempting to saunter on my way, but my feet became like cement blocks. I wasn't going any where no matter what I tried. "Could I help you rake your lawn?" I suddenly found myself asking. The surprised on her face told me this was an uncommon occurrence for her. Seeing she was quite taken with the offer I asked if she had an extra rake. "Why dear...you don't have to do that. I'm sure you've got plenty of places to be and go. You go along dear."
Feet cemented to the sidewalk I gave the situation one final push "Oh no worries M'am. I would love to help you and no one is expecting me to be anywhere right now. Let's make this yard of yours really nice so the green grass can come out." She was convinced and offered me her rake so she could go into her shed to get another one. I quickly removed my coat and started working.Noticing an amazingly frozen heap of icy snow near the front of her yard I asked if she could bring a shovel as well. "Oh dear I don't know if that thing will ever melt" she replied. "Oh we'll get it! We'll chop it right up!" I assured her.
She returned with her shovel and an additional rake. She casually mentioned needing to find a solution for the dog poop in her yard. There were a few places where the dog had secretly left his mark and she was unaware. Like a kindergartner eager to be the line leader I found myself excitedly volunteering "I'll clean the poop...and put it in a bag. Oooh pick me". haha! In my mind this was quite a riot, but in the moment I was completely serious.
I soon found out the lady's name was Dorreen and she will be turning 80 in May. She lives a fairly simple life accompanied by her dog Buster, but loves keeping her yard clean. She complimented the neighbor across the street on the great work of their yard only to receive an encouraging reply of "you'll never get that ice mount chopped up."
Shovel full after shovel full, I chopped, I smooshed, I clanked, and scooped, and cleaned - until that ice chunky pile was nothing. My genius idea involved tossing all this ice and snow into the road, which proved to work in some ways as it melted it super fast. It distracted a few drivers who slowed down to laugh or smile at us working. An hour + 1/2 later I found myself hugging Dorreen as she slipped $10 in my hand and admiring a clean yard practically cleansed of all winter's markings.
My point in sharing this story is in no way to say that I am some how amazing. My motive is this - to remind us all how even in the midst of busy, hard to breathe times, that God still deserves to be and should be King of our time - completely in charge. I didn't intend on stopping on my way down the hill - and who knows how many times in the past I've passed by opportunities to show the excellence and love of Christ - for the sake of meeting some deadline, expectation, or to-do list. People like Mrs. Dorreen exist in all neighborhoods, and while I had no time for anything outside of meetings, etc. today, God somehow made time for me to spend 1 1/2 hours cleaning this lady's yard. In all honestly, it was the highlight and most useful thing I did all day. I wouldn't have traded that time for any other.
One thing that really stood out to me came through something Dorreen spoke to me toward the end of our adventurous project. As I scooped shovel full of ice, after shovel full of ice into the roadway from around her flower beds she asked me, "Dear, why don't you just quit? Why are you working so hard?" One word ran through my head in this moment, "Excellence". Christ call us to be excellent in all we do - and to liken the work we do for others unto work we are truly doing for the glory of God.
Yard raking, ice chopping, and a sweet ol' lady named Dorreen are enough to significantly alter one's plans and agendas in such a way that you can't imagine what would have happened if you didn't stop...I dare y'all to stop today and let God control your time.
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