My first little duty today was to drive over to St. Paul Lutheran and play their organ and piano for their 8:30 morning Service. I normally try to get there 45 minutes early just to make sure I have the music organized they want played along with running thru them a few times. While waiting in my car and looking at the clock, it was getting all the closer to 8:00 before someone finally arrived to unlock their doors.
In spite of not having that much time to practice, I surprised myself by how well each piece sounded during their Service, and above all, I didn’t miss any ques of when to begin playing which I believe is the first time that’s happened. Now that I’m over one more hurdle with their Order of Service, I’ll likely no longer be as anxious as I’ve been in the past.
As I’ve said many times over, “They are the nicest group of people you’d ever want to meet.” As with nearly all the main-line churches, they’re struggling to keep their community of faith alive. As far as I’m concerned, I’d much rather attend a more traditional service, than to be bombarded with all the video screens, and oft times over-powering contemporary music we’re seeing in other churches. I mentioned to a dear one today, “I guess my form of growing my faith leans more towards the quiet times for reflection and prayer, along with singing hymns I’m more familiar with which are easily sung. But, those are my preferences, and if there are others who prefer other forms of worship, that’s just fine by me because real faith grows outward from within.
After church, I drove down to McDonald’s to buy something small for breakfast, and wouldn’t you know it, I ran into one of my dear friends who insisted on paying. I’m definitely going to do something nice for her before Christmas. She’s got a wit that most would die for, and before leaving, I was nearly in stitches. Of course naughty me always had to add something more to whatever clever remarks she was making which made the both of us laugh all the more. With her getting me to belly laugh this morning gave me a good start for the rest of my day.
I was pretty much tied to the office due to having to wait for responses on the three offers I had on one of my listings. Since the seller was busy with a large pre-Christmas gathering, I had to respect the extra time I had to wait for answers. Around mid-afternoon, we finally came to an agreement on one of them which made it all the more worth my wait. What always makes me sad, is knowing there are two other buyers who had hopes of owning it which didn’t happen. I only wish I had about a dozen homes just like it because they’d all likely be sold in a short period of time. As most seasoned Realtors know, location is exceptionally important when it comes to getting a home sold quickly.
Since I had so much free time at the office, I figured I’d do a little housekeeping in the form of dusting and damp mopping its wooden floors. Winter foot traffic really shows on a daily basis, yet in spite of my vacuuming the front rug and sweeping that fine sand off the floors every morning, there always remains those white marks from the snow melt that gets tracked in.
Today I decided to mop the floors in a very old-fashioned way which I’ll likely continue after finding how much easier it was instead of the sponge mop I normally use. I’d actually forgotten about how some of my old people used to mop floors between heavy scrubs.
All I did was get my pail of warm water, add enough Murphy’s Oil Soap, grab a heavy terrycloth washcloth and my trusty stiff-bristled broom. I swished the rag around in the pail, squeezed it out enough so it wouldn’t puddle, and then laid it flat on the floor, and then used my broom to move it back and forth until it was time to rinse it out and then repeat the process. Wow! It really worked great. I had to change my pail of water several times, but believe me, I had those floors damp mopped in less than half the time, yet they looked great. In fact, when my customers stopped in later this afternoon, they complimented me on the interior of my office’s beauty. And to think I’d forgotten about wet-brooming floors.
I did have enough time to go back over to finish cleaning up the mess I created yesterday, and all the thankful to see it finally finished. Even now, it makes my nose itch just thinking about it.
I’m hoping you all had a delightful Sunday considering how sunny it was and for a change, no wind blowing. It sounds like two dear clients of mine spent most of the day out at Lime Creek Nature Preserve, and according to them, it was a blast.
Tonight’s one-liner is: Your Highest Self only wants you to be at peace, because it doesn’t judge, compare, or demand that you defeat someone or be better than anyone.
