You ever have one of those days...

This day did not get off to an auspicious start. Limped (literally) back into the house about 2:45--shift went long, first night w/o my ankle splint (not the right night to try that)...tired after a week of constant writing.* As kletois and my wife who had to deal with my ranting about the piss-poor management currently running things at the store can testify, I was a little ticked off.

With little time left, I try to wrap up my notes for the Sunday School class on the histories of the OT and NT texts, as well as a much needed edit on my sermon (pastor's still on vacation). Run out of gass quickly and crash hard.

Handful of minor crisis (some significant) await me on the other side of consciousness, so my still-foul mood has turned to something worse. And sure, at this point there's no reason for my mood to be foul, but it is.

And then...

Sunday School went better than I expected. The sermon, honestly not sure what others thought, but I liked it. Was far less dependent upon my notes than I normally am (part of that is due to the fact I hadn't, y'know, actually written any notes for part of it other than "say something about X" before I'd fallen asleep). So by the end of the service, I'd managed to take my eyes off myself and put them back where they were supposed to be.

And then...
A couple of older ladies stayed longer than they normally would 'til I got done fussing with this and that to clean up, just so they could tell me how much I've improved in my preaching. That floored me. These women aren't exactly effusive in their compliments--you get a "that was good" from them, and want to buy a round for everyone in the bar (y'know, if you were in one). I'll be honest with ya, all the mental exhaustion, remnants of the bad attitude, all that...gone. kaput. vanished.

It's really amazing what a kind word can do. I hope I expressed myself well enough when I thanked them for their encouragement--they made my month.


*oh, okay, it was more like constant staring at a screen, sometimes interrupted by brief bursts of typing