Today Rick and I spent the entire afternoon shopping for the supplies the missionaries need. We have been doing this monthly shopping trip for quite awhile. We have it down to a bit of a science. We divide the list in half and I get cleaning supplies and equipment and Rick shops for office supplies, kitchen supplies and auto. It usually takes about 30 minutes for us to shop and at least that long to check out. Yesterday we started at Sam’s, but the mission membership card wasn’t working so we went to Walmart. Although it seems like mundane work, it is great service that allows the missionaries to do the work that they came here to do.
And just because I do this shopping every month I find it hard to count this. I have been thinking about my friend Tina and decided to write her an email hoping to bridge the 18+months since I have seen her. She was grateful to hear from me and sent an update about what she is doing and where her girls are. I need to set a goal to do better at staying in touch with the people I care about.
I heard about a way of improving relationships from a guy named Merlin Mann. You choose 6 people with whom you want to improve your relationship. You contact one of those people each week so you are in touch with each of them every 6 weeks. That is long enough in between that you have plenty of new stuff to talk about, but it keeps you from going too long in between contacts.
That’s a great idea, James!
I’m now able to carve out some time to follow this project and have been instructed by it. I tried something similar when I turned 60 but did not document. In March I will have 65 WEEKS before I turn 65 and have decided to begin then with whatever my project turns out to be. I would have similar dilemmas with deciding whether to count something, which I think goes to show partly the stage of life that allows such things but also the growth of our hearts to be in that constant mindset. Yours for sure. I can see that allowing myself a full week for an idea is going to be less pressure than the 65 days running up to my 2015 birthday because as you have pointed out, life sometimes just gets in the way of our best intentions. LOVE James’ idea for getting back in touch. I have felt terrible about my loss of Christmas contact that resulted from my “Nativity” years, but have had yearnings to get those and many others back. It’s not too late, and I’m happy to know I’m not the only one who is trying to do this. As ever, I respect and admire all that you do. You are a true inspiration to me! (Can you count that as a good deed….knowing you have inspired someone? HAHA) – Chris