Have I done any good
As I was cleaning the kitchen tonight, somewhat grumbling about how my day turned out, this song came into my mind:
Have I done any good in the world today?
Have I helped anyone in need?
Have I cheered up the sad?
Or made someone feel glad?
If not I have failed indeed.
Here's the back story....
(it's a minute by minute journal log... I apologize in advance for the lengthy post)
It's been a rough week. Sick kids all week long, and then today Brian was home with the goomba as well. All I wanted to do today was get my life back to normal, have a little time to clean my house, get my laundry caught up from the countless sheets and clothes I've had to wash due to peuking kids and work on this cake I'm doing for a photo shoot next week that is going to be ridiculously time consuming.
Well, as typical days go... life happened. Here's a re-cap:
Took Kaden to school. Got home and took Avery to dance. Ran to the cake store. Picked up Avery from dance. Hurried through the drive through at Chick fil-A for a quick lunch because Brighton was going to be late for preschool. Got home just in time for Brights car pool to show up and sent him on his way. Hurried and did Avery's hair and got her all dolled up for school picture day and sent her out the door. Whew! Three kids are in school. Sick hubby is asleep and Connor is napping as well. I'm about ready to fold a load of laundry that's been sitting on my couch since last night when I hear crying.
Yep... Connor's awake. Really? Naptime is mandatory around here! He is not allowed to be awake when all the kids are at school!! When I go into get the little guy, I realize he's burning up. I check his temp and it's over 101. AFter about 20 minutes, I finally get him calmed down and he's about asleep in my arms when the doorbell rings. I ignore it, because I just want to hold my baby and make sure he's comfortable. And truthfully, I don't want to talk to anyone, I'm already really behind on my scheduled "'to do list" for the day. The doorbell rings again. OK. OK.. I will answer it.
It's one of my old young women who came over to see if I was busy because she was having a major cake disaster and was in need of help. She had told a friend that she'd make her wedding cake and it had all crumbled to the ground and it needed to be done in less than 4 hours. Ahhh! Seriously?? How in the world does she think she can fix a wedding cake in 4 hours when the whole thing is ruined?
(This is about the time I start to grumble. This is not on my to-do list! I've been so good the last few week about following my schedule and actually feeling like I have my life a bit organized. All I wanted was to have a bit of quiet time to get some stuff done before the kids got home from school.)
So I take my sick kid over to her house to help her start over on a wedding cake she was trying to do without really knowing what she was doing. Luckily the grocery store had frozen sheet cakes so we could do actually pull this off! I Stayed there for a while to help her fix things, then ran home just in time for Brighton to get home from school and give poor Connor some medicine to lower his temp. He finally went down for a nap, and I took Brighton to the store to get Brian some Sprite I had promised him a couple hours earlier. (Ahhh!! I haven't even been around to take care of my sick hubby!!!.. this day is getting nuts!) We got the Sprite and made it to the kids school just in time for the school "store" to open. Kaden has been dying to buy a toy at the school book fair with his own money. He wanted to get the "Airblaster". A funnel like thing that apparently shoots air about 20 feet. (All this could be his for a low price of $12.95!) There were only 3 of them, so he was very worried they would go fast. We had made a deal that I'd meet him after school so we could get it. Luckily he was patiently waiting for me in the office (with his awesome thigh length black and red striped socks on for crazy sock day.... he looked pretty cute!) and we got to the book fair. The good news was, the Airblaster was still there. He ran over to it, (actually crawling between some kid's mom's legs to make sure he got this gun thing that no one was even trying to get at the time!) He grabbled his little baggie of money and handed it to the librarian. He was one happy kid! We ran home and he wanted to put this dumb toy together. All I have to say is that some toys are a pain in the behind to put together! This stupid thing took me forever to put together!!! Luckily I got it put together and off he went to play with his new toy. Now it was time for diner to be made. Got that taken care of, fed the fam and started on our nightime routine. Homework, showers, prayers, etc. etc. I didn't even get to the kids doing their evening jobs, I just wanted them in bed. They lucked out tonight!
Wow.. I can't believe me my day is almost gone.... now it's 8:00 pm... I finally getting to clean the dishes from dinner and get to all the housework and laundry I was planning on doing all day long. Well the kids are in bed. I's quiet! Finally... no distractions! I went into a cleaning zone and happily my mind began to clear..........It's always great when cleaning can de-stress me.
No,w back to the reason for this lengthy post.
As I was enjoying cleaning my dishes without any distractions, the song came to my mind, but this time, I had some answers:
Have I done any good in the world today?
Have I helped anyone in need? (yep, I did that)
Have I cheered up the sad? (I did get to cuddle my sick little baby in my arms and calm him down)
And made someone feel glad? (I was lucky enough to see Avery's big smile when I praised her for picking up her things on the floor without being asked)
If not, I have failed indeed. (hmmmm... maybe the day wasn't that bad after all)
The truth is... life is all about perspective. I need to remember that it's what I do for other people that's really important. Heavenly Father doesn't care if I have a couple extra loads of laundry or if my dishwasher needs to be filled. He DOES care that I' do good in the world, that I help those in need. I've cheered up the sad, and make others feel glad... and as the song goes, if I don't do that, I've failed indeed.
When I look at this day with a clearer vision, I'm happy about how it turned out. Even with a little grumbling, I did the right thing... not because I felt like I had to, but because in heart, I really wanted to. I'm happy I didn't fail on what matters most. It really was a good day.
