That may sound strange, but that is what I have spent most of the week dealing with and thinking about.  Mine and other's choices.  I am going to guess that we make hundreds if not thousands of choices each day------  Am I going to get out of bed, what am I going to have for breakfast, what am I going to wear.......you get the picture. Then there are other choices such as------am I going to stay single or get married, am I going to have children or not, what kind of job do I want, am I going to college, Those are pretty easy choices, but then -  there are some that are not so easy,  am I going to be a gossip today, am I going to treat my family and friends the way I want to be treated, am I going to make a (good or bad)  difference in someone's life today.............
Yeah, this past week I was "called on" more than once to go clean up someone else's mess.  I tried my best, but the result remains to be seen.  People do not stop to think about what they are getting ready to say or do.  I am not gonna say I am perfect, cause I know I am not, but I am also not going to act like I am either.  If I mess up, I try to "make things right".  Some people think they are justified in their thinking or in the way they feel  and are not about to change for anyone.  That kind of person cannot be helped.  
I also had some good times this week also.  I was able to spend some time with our very pregnant daughter (28 weeks with twins).  She and her hubby treated me to lunch.  That was so sweet of them.  After eating, the hubby went to work and we started shopping (isn't that the way it works, haha!)  Anyways, she needed some stuff and I didn't think twice about getting it for her.  I remember how hard it was starting out.   I love my kids and will do anything I can for them.
When it was time for me to leave we said our good-byes and I left, not thinking anything about what I had just done.  This brings me to explain what the preacher's sermon was about last Sunday--------it was about going the extra mile for people without complaining or expecting anything in return or anything extra.  He called it -  going  the "smile mile".
Fast forward to Wednesday evening after I got home------the daughter sent me a couple of text messages that made me cry.  She told me that she appreciated how I always go the "smile mile" for her and her little family and that she hoped that she would be the same way someday.  I told her that I don't have any doubt about her being the same way because I see it in her.   She also told me that her hubby thinks he is the luckiest guy around to have been brought into our family.  Hey, we feel pretty lucky too.  I guess I said all that to say: When we are being the kind of people God wants us to be, we don't have to put on an act.......it just comes out.
I don't want the people around me to have to wonder about my feelings or intentions.  I want them to know.  Like I said before, I am not perfect and sometimes I mess up, but I do try to make it right.
Now that Wednesday evening I was talking about - it was about time to leave for church when I received a phone call to go talk to someone in the church  ( who also happened to be my friend)  when I could find the time, because someone else had hurt them.  I  did go because this person was my friend and wanted to let her and her husband know that Ritzy and I were there for them.  To me this was more important than going to "church".  In all reality the person/people that should have gone to my friends were the ones who were asking me to go.  I thought to myself - there is something wrong with this picture -  I decided later the next day I was gonna start calling my self "the mop lady"........
I don't know how this is all gonna turn out, but I can say that I did and said everything I could.  I have come to realize that in church a person has to realize that they are ultimately doing their job for the Lord and to not let others get in the way.  A lot of times people in the church like to give a person a job - that no one else wants - and then "micro-manage" the job.  If the church is going to give a person a job or mission to do, then step back and let them do their job  all the while supporting their work and not gossiping or complaining about them or the job they are doing!!!!!   This causes nothing but strife and hurt feelings......
I can almost hear what one person will be telling me as i walk in the doors  tomorrow ---oh, I didn't mean any harm....Well, I am gonna call them on it and say that I am not the one you should be telling this to.  The person who was hurt is the one that needs to hear this from YOU!!!!
Now, it's getting late and I have to get the bulletin ready and study my lesson for Sunday School.
Ritzywife out...........................