I'll be honest. Today was not my day. It started out great... Prayer Meeting was amazing, and I didn't even have any homework. But as calculus rolled around eighth period, I wasn't really following the lesson (what's new there?), and I began thinking about all I had to do... A stress headache formed quite quickly.
After school I was home for maybe five minutes before running out the door for a haircut appointment. Once in the car, I spilled everything out to my mom, listing everything I have going on and my long to do list...
First, there's the youth small group fundraiser, so as our team leader, I am constantly trying to communicate ideas and information between my youth sponsors, my team, and Justin Masterson's wife (which is another awesome story in itself). Then there's all the food I have to make this weekend for upcoming fundraisers. I have to be at school early tomorrow for a meeting on our Veteran's Day assembly next week, which I'm also in charge of orchestrating with several others. Our government class won the mock election, so we're in charge of fulfilling all our promises, and we're providing a date night for teachers and staff next week, which means more planning, and, most likely, more food. I have to co-write an informational history page for a local business' website sometime this week. I finally scheduled my job shadow date for next week. On top of all that, I have little to no idea what I'm doing when it comes to calculus.
Needless to say, I'm feeling slightly overwhelmed.
My head hurt, I was beyond stressed just thinking about all I had to do, and it was raining. All I wanted was a hot shower, a massage, and my bed.
The last thing I wanted to do was make a thirty minute drive to a warehouse in the middle of nowhere and spend my night setting up Christmas trees. Tonight was our monthly small group night, and for weeks we'd planned on helping a local thrift store assemble Christmas trees to make sure all the pieces were there and the lights worked.
On a rainy, dreary evening like tonight, I admit, I was reluctant about going. I complained (which I noticed I've been doing a lot lately; I feel like I need to re-implement the "What's good about this situation?" strategy in my life) to my mom about how I just really didn't wanna go, and she told me to try to make the most of it.
After running a few errands, picking up some groceries, and eating a quick supper in the car, we rushed home, filled my car with youth groupies, and rushed to meet the rest of my group. On the way out to the warehouse where we were going to be working, I commented on my day, complaining about something or other. I caught myself, and apologized for my poor attitude.
I said a silent prayer for a changed attitude, and decided to try to enjoy my evening.
We arrived at the warehouse, walked inside, and when the lead volunteer from the thrift shop gave us a tour, I froze when we got to the Christmas room. There were trees everywhere. We're going to assemble all these trees? Oh boy...
We got started, and as we worked in pairs to put the trees together, my attitude shifted, and I began enjoying myself. My tree-assembling partner and I laughed and joked when we opened our tree box to find it wrapped in hundreds of silvery strands of tinsel. As a group, we managed to set up 12-15 trees, and I soon realized they didn't expect us to finish all of them, which was a relief. But as we did it, I continued to realize how much I was enjoying myself when I chose to make the most of the task at hand and realize we were helping these people. We laughed, we had fun, and afterward we snacked on some of the most amazing soft pretzels I've ever eaten in my life. If I hadn't gone tonight, one, I would have missed out on an awesome night, and two, I would have most likely sat at home dreading all I have to do in the next few weeks.
I'm thankful for the incredible people in my life who encourage and pray for me when I am stressed, who listen and let me vent, and who help me remember that "it'll all get done." And I'm thankful for a God who doesn't tune me out when I complain, but reminds me to cast my cares on Him instead, because He cares for me, and that I can get it all done with His strength, not my own.
Our small group modeling one of the Christmas trees we put together.
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