Maintenance...

Before I get down to today’s business I am happy to report that Mike D. got the job at QVC. I am not really sure how he is going to be able to transfer a 30% discount to me, but we are certainly going to try to if it’s legal!

In adoration last night I was alone with the Lord for almost the entire hour. I did a lot of singing, and I thought about you guys and prayed for all of you while I was doing so.

I got an e-mail from Jermaine earlier in the week (he went to college with me and a lot of folks from home know him too, especially from my birthday party a few years back when he worked as the bouncer in the “VIP room”--my master bedroom upstairs, where some of the party overflow hung out and danced). There’s a lot of change going on on his end—a new job, he and his brothers are moving, and so on. I let him know in response that I really hate change. There was something that he wrote at the end of the e-mail that made me think. He said:

I love you and thank you for always loving me. I know I have not made that easy at times. How are you doing? What is 2006-2007 going to look like for Lori?

It made me think first about all the people who love me that I don’t always make it easy for. (That includes you Lord!) I need to try to start to have just a fraction of the patience that God has with me with other people. When I really think about this, I can literally see how my life could change. I want that.

Then, it also made me think about the fact that I haven’t even given a thought before now to the fact that we are almost two thirds of the way through 2006. My life literally flashes before my eyes at times and I really don’t give it a second thought. I am one of the most present-minded people I know. It’s a fabulous trait on the one hand. I don’t look much further into the future than a month or so. I can sometimes get very stressed in the moment (ask my staff!), but in general I am not a stressed person. I am able to really enjoy each “today” and do. On the other hand, I can’t get too prideful because in being very present minded there are bad things. For example, where does goal setting come in? If I’m not looking far into the future, what am I striving for?

Who is better off? Someone who has several goals and as a result doesn’t really enjoy the present or a present-minded person who is so grounded in the day-to-day that there are almost no honest-to-goodness “goals” on the horizon?

Before I sign off, I do want to share just one Jermaine story that never fails to please the masses. Even if you already know this one, I know you’ll want to hear it again. It sounds funnier than it reads, so I’ll do my best telling this one in writing. Jermaine stayed with me the weekend of my 29th birthday. The morning after the party we were hanging out and there was a knock at the door. Jermaine answered the door and it was a Jehovah’s Witness. She started talking to Jermaine and I could only hear bits of the conversation. I heard him say, “Well, this isn’t even my house….” I heard the JW say to him, “If this isn’t your house, maybe there was a reason why you answered the door today.” They said a couple more things and then all I heard him say to her was, ”I’m just trying to maintain.” With that he shut the door.

Hmmm. Come to think of it, is that all I'm doing? Maintaining?