ON THE 6TH DAY OF CHRISTMAS – SELF-ADVOCACY

Philippians 4:2 says

"Each of you should look not only to your own interests but also to the interest of others."

I believe in advocacy and have always used this verse to promote advocacy for those who cannot speak for themselves. Sometimes we need to be reminded that we must speak for our selves, also.


This week, my husband and I advocated for ourselves over a very simple (to us) issue and I am happy to report we were successful.


During all of the crazy family doings on Christmas,

a gift card was misplaced.

Due to my very conscientious husband removing everything and trucking it away the very next day, we could not search through the gift wrap and boxes.

On Monday, after searching all possible places, we contacted the store where we had purchased the card. We knew we probably could not get a refund, but, in that case, we decided that we would purchase another card for the dear recipient.

While holding for further assistance my husband heard the head cashier say he was "s___ out of luck". When she returned to the phone, he reprimanded her with "Young lady, etc." He was not rude back to her but did tell her she should not speak that way to or about a customer.

After hanging up he called back to speak with the manager. After telling the manager what has transpired, and the manager stating he would speak to the employee, my husband suggested a written apology would be nice. The manager replied that was not going to happen.

Let me interject, that we have never had a problem with this store and have recently spent a good deal of money there on new appliances, paint, etc.

Because I have written many letters and court reports advocating for children, I offered to send an e-mail to the complaint department of the main office. I wrote the e-mail suggesting that with out the customer the employee would have no job. I added that, in this day of advanced technology I was surprised that a gift card # could not be cancelled and a refund or new card given. I ended with saying that we had planned to purchase another card but would now give the recipient cash rather than spend our money in this store. I was polite, but assertive in my value as a customer and my expectation of courteous service.

We received an immediate response asking for the store location and the receipt number.

Yesterday my husband received a phone call from the store (different manager)
and was told that the gift card was cancelled and a new one was in the mail!

Now what if we had just assumed we were out of luck?

On a similar note, asparagus has been puny, stunted in the supermarket for the past month. When I commented this week regarding the why of this, I was told that it is the consumer's fault!!
Why?...Because we keep purchasing it anyway instead of refusing poor quality.

Makes sense, doesn't it?

On the Second Day of Christmas

After a wonderfully worshipful candle light communion service, I was leaving church when the day took a sudden wrong turn. Only one day after my daughter wrote this, my ears were assaulted with the words “Is your daughter pregnant again?” (My daughter was not with me so she could not appear to be pregnant.)
Unbelievable,and yet not, coming from the resident curiosity seeker. When I answered no and failed to make a hasty retreat, the questions disguised as concern came next. My pre-planned answer of Only God knows the answer to that would have encouraged her to ask again next week.

The desire to give a rude reply was strong for a flashing second. Just a few moments earlier I had felt so close to God and had felt so grateful to Jesus for the sacrifice He had made for me. I was not going to let a rude person steal this from me. So, I patiently told this woman the medical reason my daughter was not with child. It was none of her business and I knew she just wanted to be 'in the know'. Yet, I still tried to explain. Just as my daughter had said, it made no difference. I still got the 'well, you never know, it can happen." response.
I do know. It has happened! Weren't you listening?
What is wrong with people?? Only a very close friend could have the privilege of asking that question and a close friend would know not to ask.

I almost let this ruin a perfectly good '2nd Day of Christmas'. Almost.

“Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord;

keep watch over the door of my lips.”

Psalm 141:3

What makes Weebles Wobble?

Weebles have a weight at the bottom end,

Weebles wobble when pushed,

but never fall completely over.

~

I feel like a weeble this week.

Except my weight is on my shoulders

I am wobbly, but

With God's help I will not fall over!

~

Weebles wobble, but they don't fall down!

~

It is funny to picture myself tipping over

and then popping back up.

I bet I surprise some people!

LOL

~

"It is for freedom that God has set us free.

Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be

burdened again by a yoke of slavery."

Galations 5:1

PATIENCE IS BETTER!

Several years ago I received (everyone got one) a free CD while attending a Gaither Homecoming concert. On the way home we popped it into the player ready for more great Gaither music. The first song was not one of the songs I had heard that night and it didn’t ‘do’ anything for me, so I skipped to the next one. That one wasn’t up-beat enough for me either. You get what you pay for, I thought (remember...it was free) as I, disappointedly, removed it and listened to other music as we drove home.

We have been attending Gaither concerts for close to 30 years. We took our young son when he was a preschooler and the first time I left my daughter in the care of someone else was to go to hear the Gaither Vocal Band at Carolina Coliseum. We had most of their music from vinyls, tapes, CD’s and even piano sheet music. The lullaby of choice for my babies was “There is Something About That Name” so we were connoisseurs of a sort.

Fast forward to June 2009… My now adult daughter and I were driving as she browsed through my CD case. She chose the above mentioned CD and I grimaced because I knew there was better music to be had. The first two songs played and really weren’t that bad. Better than I remembered. Much to my surprise next was one of my favorites, then another good one and before I knew I was enjoying the whole thing. How could it have changed so much? It got better while lying around unused? Or could it be me? Was I not as discriminating as before?

Well, I will tell you what happened, plain and simple. I had given up on it too soon. Before I listened to all of it, I had judged it unacceptable. I laughed at myself for missing out on some good music for several years. The sad thing is that if my daughter had not chosen it from the case, it would still be in there.

Isn’t that the way we treat many things in our fast paced world? If something isn’t fun or exciting we quickly move on to the next thing. We are too impatient to put the time into learning a new skill, nurturing a new friendship or a new marriage, or even playing a game with a child. The skill we thought we wanted was tedious so we put it aside. A friendship is developing too slowly and there are other potential friends up ahead. The marriage is struggling so we move on. And we took the child to a movie instead of investing an afternoon to monopoly. Then suddenly, it seems, we have nothing to show for a year of living, the friend is gone, the marriage is over and the child has grown up.

Is there an area in your life where you need to persevere?

“The end of a matter is better than its beginning,

and patience is better than pride.”
Ecclesiastes 7:8

Lesson #999 (approximately)

Never visit a meat plant to save a buck if you are planning to actually eat the meat later.


'nuff said.