Monday, Monday

I arrived at work this morning with "Monday, Monday" by the Mamas and the Papas firmly entrenched in my brain.  As far as I know, I didn't hear it playing anywhere this morning, it was just that someone made some sort of "monday, monday!" reference in conversation, and that was all it took.  This is the hazard of being raised by a father who loved 1970's folk music.  I know quite a bit more music from my father's era than my own!

My plans for a quiet bus ride to work, listening to one of Anne Lamott's novels in audiobook form (as an aside, I'm loving this one, "Imperfect Birds"), were interrupted as soon as I boarded and spotted a gentleman who I knew was a new employee at the firm I'm temping for last week and this week.  As it turns out, today was his first day, and he'd never taken that particular bus route before.  If I'm honest, the last thing I really wanted to do on a Monday morning transit commute was spend it making small talk with a stranger, but I'm learning to be sensitive to situations and to God's promptings, and more so, to be willing to sacrifice my own insistence on "ME" for the sake of others.  So, we chatted for a while.  He's new to Calgary, so I told him a few little things about the city.  We talked about transit, and previous jobs a.  It wasn't so bad after all.

And, even as I think about that, I'm thinking about the fact that sitting at a reception desk on a Monday morning, I might be the first, or only smiling and welcoming face that someone sees today.  I don't always see it this way, but today that feels like a gift.  Like a chance to exist in my own skin, and love Jesus, and let his love for and joy in others exist in my smile, and in my conversations with people, and in the way I say hello to each person who crosses through my lobby.  And I can see each smile and greeting offered to me as a gift.

Like I said, I don't always feel that way.  I didn't feel that way even a couple of hours ago, when I woke too early from a very disturbing dream.  The introvert in me would rather not be the one to deal with people all day, the one who has to paste on a smile and be welcoming when what I really want is to just hide away.  But somehow, my day has shifted, and I'm choosing joy and peace.  I'm processing the dream, but choosing to not let it ruin my day.

It's nice to be in that space, to be able to choose that.  A gift really!

And hey, it's Monday!  Monday means I'll pick up take-out on my way home and head home to catch The Bachelorette live from the east coast online, enjoying a couple of hours of entertainment.  It means an evening of quietly enjoying myself, and doing things I love.  It's a little bit of sabbath for me.  And, as for that audio book, there's always the bus trip home.  I'll probably read the book book that I brought with me on my breaks today, sitting in the sun.  So, it's Monday, Monday, and that's okay with me.

Daily 5 - Year 2, Day 342

Today's Daily 5:

1. Sleeping late
2. curly hair after sleeping in braids
3. a quiet afternoon
4. banana with peanut butter
5. catching up on television online

Daily 5 - Year 2, Day 341

Today's Daily 5:

1. sleeping in
2. finally tackling a task I'd been dreading
3. a library trip
4. TV on DVD
5. string cheese

Early Afternoon

I spent last evening with my friend A, and her daughter N.  In between N's bedtime routine, A and I snuck in as much catching up, these are the things that are on our hearts conversation as we could manage.  Over dinner, and ice cream and tea, we talked.  We shared the things going on in each of our lives, and the things the other could be praying about.  I imagine it was the sort of evening that others would look at oddly.  I cleaned up her kitchen while she put N to sleep, and we chatted in between the little interruptions where N would rouse and need to be calmed again.  But for me, the evening was a gift.  It had hugs and love and baby cuddles and food.  It had the gift of genuine, no-holds barred conversation, without judgement, and the gift of seeing the ways God is at work in each of our lives.  I walked away challenged again by the lifestyle A and her husband and their daughter have chose to embrace.  By who they are, by the ways that they challenge and encourage me, the ways that they seek God in what they're doing, and how they're living and parenting.  (And hey, I even walked away with a great new recipe to try!)

I had a bit of a wild bus ride home, getting off the bus downtown, to wait for the next one, to avoid a rather intoxicated native man who was harassing the girl sitting in front of me, and beginning to turn his attention to me as well.  It wouldn't have been my choice to spend fifteen minutes waiting for a bus on my own, downtown, late at night, but I made it home safely, and happily collapsed into sleep at mom and dad's.  It was a bus ride that stirred questions and thoughts about homelessness, safety, poverty, and love again, and it will take time to process.

I slept late this morning, and I'm currently curled up, propped against pillows, and under blankets, working on some of the harder and more personally challenging tasks that I need to accomplish this weekend.  I'm doing them in little chunks, embracing a favorite school homework strategy, of setting aside all distractions for a set period of time (20 minutes today) and doing nothing but the hard thing for that time, and then taking a break.  It works for me, especially with quiet, instrumental, spa type music playing, with ocean waves and things like that.

I have errands to run today, and more to accomplish.  But for this moment, what I need is some food, so I'm off to take care of that need.  I'm thankful for a quiet Saturday, for moments to breath amidst the hard stuff.  For the encouragement of time with a heart-friend, and the knowledge that I can work safely through the harder things, and even the unexpected challenges.  For the reminder of friends praying, and the peace that Jesus offers.  It's that sort of day today, and I am leaning into it.

Daily 5 - Year 2, Day 340

Today's Daily 5:

1. It's Friday!
2. a hug from a dear friend
3. reminders of lessons in simplicity
4. simple moments of service
5. sharing a meal with friends
6. skies that cleared after pouring rain
7. spice tea
8. the sounds of a baby
9. the encouragement of a friend who helps me see God at work
10. clean smelling air after the rain