Getting Correct Change and Getting Change Correct

I remember a day a few years ago when I was headed out of town, but hadn't had a chance to eat before hitting the road.  I stopped by the closes fast food joint to grab some sustenance for the drive.  I paid with a ten, but was given change as if I'd paid with a twenty.  The woman who served me had a hard time hearing and an even harder time handing my drink to me without spilling.  I certainly didn't want her to bear the burden of a cash drawer that was (at least) ten dollars short at the end of the day.  I wouldn't have wanted her to regardless of her other work-related challenges, but I felt the need to be especially sensitive to her error.  I pulled into a parking spot and ran in to the restaurant.  I waited in line and, once I got to the cash register, I noticed that the man who was taking orders happened to also be the manager.  I explained the circumstances and returned the extra money to him.  But here's the surprising part: he was utterly shocked that someone would do something like that...he couldn't believe that a person who received extra change would have taken the time to notice the discrepancy and, furthermore, couldn't believe that they would take the extra two minutes to return the money.  As I walked out, another customer stopped me and applauded me for my apparently praise-worthy efforts.  I was sad that honesty seemed like something that, apparently, was hard to come by.

Of course, I'm not perfect by any stretch, but I can't imagine being the kind of person who knowingly steals.  I mention this because I just looked at a box of books that had been packed up for awhile, and discovered that I have been holding on to a couple of books for a few YEARS now, not realizing I still had them, and I need to make every effort to return them as soon as possible.  It was unintentional stealing, I guess...or very very longterm borrowing...but, nevertheless, I've been holding onto things that aren't mine.

I think we all hold on to stuff.  Maybe it isn't "stuff" in a physical sense, but it's all that nonsense that clouds our ability to see clearly, to make good decisions, to be the best people that we can be.  I can point to any number of things that have been (or continue to be) barriers for me at one point or another in my life: fear, pride, worry, laziness, confusion, anger, etc.  I take great comfort in knowing that I don't always have to be held back by those things.  I can face the question marks in my life with confidence knowing that, somewhere along the line, the answers will reveal themselves in one way or another.  I can't predict the future (accurately, anyway), but I also don't really need to.  I just need to be changeable.  I need to be flexible.  And I need to be humble to the nth degree.

(Yesterday's sermon at my church spoke to this topic, and it has been something that I've been thinking a lot about in recent months, anyway, so now it's a particularly potent subject to ponder!)

5 Things:
1. It is just beautiful outside.  The sun is warm and vibrant and people are happy and the birds are headed back this way!
2. My friend, Ashley, just won a very exciting prize for her work in poetry.  She's quite gifted, and it's nice to see her gain appropriate recognition for her efforts.
3. More of my friends are pregnant, which means there will be more baby-sized sources of joy entering this world over the next several months!!
4. I got three(!!!!!) new skirts, all for 50% off (and in a size that makes me happy).
5. The three of us had a really great weekend spending time together.  Plus, Joe and I got to go out on a mini-date, I got to get some work done at the house while Joe and Andy spent time together, and Joe got to hang out with the guys while Andy and I played yesterday afternoon!