'This Is The Day . . .'

"And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi,

Let me now go to the field,

and glean ears of corn after him

In whose sight I shall find grace.

And she said unto her, Go, my daughter."

Ruth 2:2  KJV

 

"This is the day, this is the day

that the Lord has made,

that the Lord has made;

We will rejoice, we will rejoice

and be glad in it, and be glad in it.

This is the day that the Lord has made;

We will rejoice and be glad in it.

This is the day, this is the day

that the Lord has made." *

As I stood and sang this song this afternoon with one of our third grade Weekday Religious Education classes, the fourth and final class of the day, I had to pause a moment. Yes, this is the day that the Lord has made, and we/I should rejoice in it, BUT . . .

 

That's tough to do that today . . . you see it's 29℉ outside, the wind is blowing and it's snowing . . . again, AND . . .

 

When I arrived at the little white Baptist Church on the corner across the street from the school, where we hold our classes, at 9:00am this morning it was cold inside, 52℉ to be exact, and I turned the heat up to 75℉. I realized after several minutes that I wasn't hearing anything, you know the blower wasn't coming on, it was too quiet! So I walked back over to the thermostat and hit "SCHEDULE" and then cranked up the temperature again - it click on this time, yeah! We, the Weekday Religious Ed teacher and I, then walked over to the school and pick-up our first class.

 

On the way over to the school I slipped and nearly fell on a patch of ice, I didn't see, on the sidewalk in front of the Church - made note to self to grab the jug of salt inside the front door of the Church when we get back with the students and salt it good! After we crossed the street and entered the school property, through the drive, lots more ice! Nothing I can do about that, but be careful and warn the students to walk carefully and NOT slide on it. When we got back to the Church I did grab the salt and laid down quite a bit of it - and when we left about 35 minutes later the patches of thin ice were nearly melted, and what hadn't quite melted yet wasn't slick!

 

By the time we had finished our second morning class and were heading out for our 2 1/2 hour lunch break, not what it's cracked up to be, I looked at the thermostat . . . it had hit 53℉, and this is nearly 2 hours later! YIKES!

 

When I came back from lunch the thermostat was still reading 53℉! Hummmm, kids, keep your coats on, sorry. After our fourth class, nearly 6 hours after I had turned the heat up it had only reached 54℉, and that was after I noticed, during the first afternoon class, that in the bottom left corner of the thermostat it said "LONG TERM HOLD" What does that mean? I've never noticed that wording before. So I clicked on 'SCHEDULE" and then "HOLD" and then cranked the heat back up to 75℉.

 

The Weekday Religious Ed teacher left a note for the members of the Church telling them we were finally back, after an extended Christmas vacation and the trouble we had with the heat. I happen to know that one of the owners of the Church property, it's rented, also owns 'Daniel's' the neighborhood market on the other corner, and said I'd stop over and see if she was in. She was, and just about to leave for the day, so I was able to talk to her. She called her brother (co-owner) and let me talk with him - seems they had a problem late last week with the heat not working and someone came and fixed it. They're coming back out this afternoon . . . so I hope we have heat tomorrow morning when we are there with our four fourth grade classes.

 

So why am I blogging about this?

 

It's all about the words to that one song we sang with the third grade students today . . . "This is the day the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it." How many times have I sung that song, or any number of other songs for that reason, before and I've never stopped to think about the words I was singing and what they meant? Note to self - stop and think about the words I'm singing/saying and what they mean. Yes, I have much to rejoice and be glad about today . . .

1. School is back in session, after being closed all last week due to extreme cold temperatures, over a foot of snow and dare I say poor job of snow removal by local and state agencies;
2. Thankful that there was a jug of salt at the Church that I could use to melt the ice on the sidewalk;
3. We are blessed to have a Church just across the street from this elementary school in which to have our classes;
4. We are blessed with some wonderful teachers and staff at this elementary school who work with us on days like this;
5. The third graders who came to class today were still thoughtful and considerate . . . many still thanked me when I gave them their folder and sticker for saying their memory verse - their teachers and parents have taught them good manners;
6. Thankful to have this opportunity to work with these and so many other third & fourth grade students and the Weekday Religious Ed program;
7. Thankful to know and be a part of this community and know that the owners of this Church also own the market across the street and if we've got a problem all I need to do is go over and talk with them and they will take care of it;
8. Thankful that I had put on extra layers this morning which kept me warm inside the Church and a nice new winter coat with a hood & scarf and two pairs of gloves for my hands when we were outside.

Today was truly a day that I needed to stop and rejoice and be glad for everything that God provides for me and to know that sometimes when He makes me uncomfortable for a few hours or a day it's His way of getting my attention . . . to stop and think about what I have to be thankful for, instead of complaining about the heat not working and how cold I am! And He certainly got my attention today, not with the cold inside the Church but with the words of a song I've sung so many times before!

 

For some reason, as I finish typing this, I'm being reminded of my Friend Ross, a member of Mooresville Friends Meeting who is no longer with us. I'm hearing Ross in my head singing this song . . . loud and clear. This wasn't his 'signature song,' that would have been "How Great Thou Art," but Ross is singing this song loud and clear in my head right now none the less. Maybe it's because I'm talking about Weekday Religious Ed classes, after all, it was Ross that took me under his wings 14-15 years ago and started taking me to the Weekday Religious Ed Board Meetings as the new Representative from Mooresville Friends Meeting to the Board. Twelve years ago, last fall, I was appointed by the Board to fill a vacated Directors seat on the Board, and was elected at the Annual Meeting that next spring to fill that seat. So, I've been an elected Director on the Board for 12 years now, served as Secretary for four of those years and have been an assistant teacher in the classroom for 12 years - over half of those as a volunteer. I'm blessed and thankful for the memory of this dear Friend and for his bringing me into this program.

 

Oh, and what was today's lesson to the students??? Well, today we talked about one of the heroines from the Old Testament . . . RUTH! Need I say much more? Have you noticed the name of my Blog? Have you noticed the scripture typed at the top of each of my posts? I love the story of Ruth and it seems to me anyway, that it went well with all of the troubles we had to deal with today with our classes.

What is it that maybe made you a bit uncomfortable today? What made you stop and pause what you were doing to thank God for what He has given/provided to you?


* Words and music by Les Garrett - Scripture reference Psalm 118:246