June 3 – “Small fun favors”

First off, thanks to everyone who acknowledged the tribute to Bob Bryant yesterday, and even left tributes of their own.  He was a well-loved man of integrity, to be sure.

 

We had some excitement on our hike yesterday.  Well, more so than usual.  We went dumpster diving.  Well, not exactly in dumpsters.  But we did find something quite interesting in the trash someone had left out at the curb.  It was a piece of outdoor furniture.  But this one was unusual in that it was a rocking chair.  And anyone who knows me knows that I really like rocking chairs.  I had to work for it.  It took some uncovering from some of the other boxes and general “stuff.”  But once I managed to pull it free, I sat it down in the street to inspect it further.  No obvious holes or tiny critters.  I even sat in it myself to make sure it still worked.  There was absolutely nothing wrong with it.  So I did what any self-respecting dumpster-diver would do … I took it home.

 

But it was the “taking it home” phase that really made this event particularly exciting.  I picked that chair up and carried it away … on my head.  We were about a quarter of a mile away from home, so I figured I could make it that far.  I must have looked like I was struggling, though.  Chris finally got worried about me (or felt sorry for me) and offered to share the load.  No, not on her head.  Nope.  We each grabbed an arm and skipped merrily together the rest of the way home.  OK.  Maybe “skipped” is a little too extreme a description.  But we made it home. 

 

I thought it fit really well on the front porch in a place of honor right next to our bench.  It is the color of the cushion on the bench, so I figured we could get a cushion that is the color of the bench itself, add a pillow that matches the ones there, and all would be coordinated.  And that may have been true.  However … in the grand scheme of things, Chris decided that the chair brought too much of a good thing.  Nice way of saying its presence made the porch look way too crowded.  Oh well.  It was relegated to a position on the back porch along with the chairs back there.  A bit of a demotion, but still a position of honor, I suppose.  Could be worse.  Could be out on the street waiting for the trash guys to arrive …

 

Romans 8:6 says, “The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.”

 

Father, thank you for small fun favors from the side of the road.  Amen.