Tag: appreciation

Posted in Family, friends, Grace, gratitude, life, loving others, thankful

The Underwear Fairy

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.” Song of Solomon 2:15

She did it again. I know you have heard about the Tooth Fairy and probably your Fairy Godmother, but have you ever heard about the “Underwear Fairy?”  I am fairly certain this is not a one-house deal.  I haven’t researched it extensively but from what I can gather this behind-the-scenes, mythical being shows up in houses across America and possibly around the world.

It goes something like this.  Everyone has routines and mine looks something like this.  Wakeup, coffee with the weather guy on our local channel, quiet time with God, more coffee, exercise (sometimes), breakfast, nice hot shower and get dressed for the day.  Part of that getting dressed thing involves the unmentionables of the underworld—underwear. And here is where it gets amazing.

Every day I open a drawer in my bathroom and behold there are underwear in there.  I grab them up, put them on and bam out the door I go. Amazing.  As the days pass, the supply gets lower and lower.  And then out of the clear blue sky the drawer is full again and the process starts all over again.  I couldn’t really figure this out till one day it dawned on me.  There must be an “Underwear Fairy” who washed, folded, and put my unmentionables right in my drawer.  Without reward, without asking, day after day and week after week, it happened.

It took a while, but I finally decided to find out who this mythical person was.  So, I camped out in my shower behind the curtain like a kid waiting on Santa Claus. And sure enough, I heard the sound of a drawer sliding open and jumped from behind the curtain and yelled, “Got you!” And what did my wandering eyes should behold?  An old guy in a red suit with eight tiny reindeer? No, that would have been weird.  A bunny rabbit with a basket? Weirder. Nope.  It was my wife, Judy.

Yup…all along it was her.  She would go and get the dirty clothes basket out of my closet, carry those clothes down three flights of stairs, throw them into the washer, go back down later and throw them in the dryer, go back down later and get them out of the dryer and take them upstairs and fold them.  She would then sneak into my bathroom and quietly fill my drawer with my drawers and tee shirts.  Amazing.  And here is the crazy part.  She has been doing this for almost 48 years.  I can’t believe it took this long to catch her.

Well, that is how I came to discover the “Underwear Fairy” and that is also how I came to begin to learn something.  While all of us appreciate the big things people do for us, sometimes, maybe a lot of the time, it is the small things that matter.  Since this discovery it is not uncommon for me to say my wife, “Judy, the “Underwear Fairy” came.” And hopefully that is followed by a thank-you and maybe even a kiss.

I really had to weigh it carefully if I could write about underwear.  I even asked the fairy herself if she thought I could.  She wasn’t sure.  Well, it wasn’t a matter of could…it was a matter of should.  Each day our lives are filled with the small things that people do for us…things we take for granted.  Why not take a moment today and say thank you.  If your husband takes out the trash, or the kids’ pick up the house, or one of the guys at the office buys donuts or any of a thousand things…say thanks.  Learn to appreciate the small things.

Tucked away in the Song of Solomon in your Bible (That is one of the books the preacher never preaches from. You might need the table of contents.) are these words, “Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.”  The little foxes can be those missed opportunities when we take others for granted resulting in ingratitude. Relationships can grow stale and love can whither on the vine if we fail to water them with gratitude. Remember that.

Perhaps you might need to stop and look for the fairies and foxes in your house, your neighborhood or where you work.  Be sure and thank those around you that make your life just a little easier.  And for sure if you see the fox of ingratitude—“shoot that thing.” Oh, and on your list, be sure you have God at the top of the list of things to be grateful for.  Every day from sunrise to sunset and beyond He is working behind the scenes and writing you love notes with acts of mercy and kindness.  Things like letting you rest in Him.  Things like letting you know, “I’ve got this.”  And He does.  Bro. Dewayne

Posted in Family, friends, Grace, gratitude, life, love, loving others, priorities, Scripture, thankful, wisdom

Kitchen Wisdom

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

It was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard.” 2 Chronicles 5:13

They hang silently on the wall…shouting…with no one listening.  We have lived at 217 West Poplar Street for almost twenty-three years. Given I’m a Baptist pastor that is quite amazing since we preachers don’t usually stay in one place that long.  That might be why so many of us preachers are fond of Willie Nelson’s song, “On the Road Again.” You might wonder why we tend to move around, and the answer is three-fold. First, sometimes God says go, sometimes the people we serve say go and finally, sometimes we say go. There you go…no pun intended.

So, to live in one place for that many years means that we have hung around long enough to see our kids grow up and have kids, for sticks to become trees and flowers to not only bloom but multiply. As the years have gone by, we have painted the house, inside and out, a couple of times and redecorated more times than that.  Furniture has come and gone and so have a lot of decorator items.  You know how it is—tastes and styles change and of course we must occasionally keep up with the Jones.

Well, amidst all that change there are somethings that have hung around—and hung is a good word for it.  As an example, we papered the main part of our kitchen, and it is still there today—two decades later.  There are two reasons.  First, we like it and second, we definitely do not like stripping wallpaper, so every time we think about changing it—-we just think about stripping it.  Now hanging over the stove is something that we have had for a long time—in fact, it may have come with us from our previous home.

It is a three-dimensional wall plaque that, along with other things, has six words on it. I hadn’t really read it in a long time but this morning I happened to glance over at the stove and for the first time in a long time—well, I read it.  Here’s what it says, “Live well, Laugh often and Love much.” Now that is a great mantra to live by. And for the past couple of decades, it has hung in the same place, over the stove, shouting its grand advice and yet, for the most part, no one listened.

Regardless…it is great advice.  Think about it. Live well.  Stop and smell the roses. Learn to appreciate the people who fill your life—especially the ones we call family. Take the time to admire a sunrise and sunset—like it was the first one you ever saw.  Laugh often.  Rediscover the fine art of laughing at a corny joke or the crazy antics of your dog or one of your grandkids. Sometimes we just need to laugh till we cry.  Love much. Love the way you did when you first saw him or her.  Love homemade ice cream like you did the first time you tasted it.  Love God like the day He forgave you.

Someone said once, we need to learn to dance like no one is watching.  I like that—especially considering I can’t dance.  But for any of this to happen, we must learn to listen to the things that matter and yet are so easy to ignore.  Like the plaque over the stove.  Like the song the frogs sing after a spring rain.  Like the symphony the stars lift to the One who made it all.  Starting today, starting now, why not take time to read or perhaps just listen to all that is going on around us.  No, not the static, not the noise, but rather the music of life.  The words go something like this—live well, laugh often, and love much.

There’s an interesting verse tucked away in the Old Testament part of the Bible.  It says, “And it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard.”  We learn that it was their job to be heard but it was the people’s job to listen…and respond. The music of life, laugher and love are all around us—we just need to listen. My Dearest Daddy sometimes, well a lot of the time, must remind me to slow way down and listen as His creation sings and as He whispers, “I’ve got this.” Bro. Dewayne

Posted in Family, Grace, gratitude, life, loving others, priorities, Scripture, Southern born, wisdom

Here’s a Tip

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 (NLT)

You’ve got to be kidding me.  I started working real jobs when I was fifteen.  Back in those days you had to be at least fifteen to get a work permit and a social security number.  When that happened, I started working at a restaurant as a dishwasher for 75 cents an hour.  Later I moved up in the world working as a “bag boy” at a grocery store.

It’s funny how certain memories stay with you from your early years.  I remember mom and dad driving me to and from work since I wasn’t old enough to drive.  A little later I finally got my license and I remember the thrill and anxiety as I drove myself the six or seven miles to the “Food Fair.”  My responsibilities were to bag the people’s groceries and carry them to their car. I can’t remember how much I made per hour but I believe it was bumped up from the restaurant gig to a whopping $1.25 plus tips. The standard tip, if you got one, was a quarter.  It was a big day, like “ring the bell” big, if you got a dollar.  It was a rare thing—something akin to winning the lottery. Well, one Saturday “it” happened.  No, not that “it.” It was this bag boy’s worse nightmare.

Saturday was the big shopping day at the grocery store so we were busy.  All the lanes were open and we were bagging like crazy—cans on the bottom and bread on top. It wasn’t uncommon to scan the lines to get what appeared to be the best bagging gig.  You wanted a customer who looked generous with an order big enough to get a tip but not too big.  You know, the whole balance of the universe thing.  Then I saw her. A lady was in line and she had four or five carts full of groceries. She must have only shopped for groceries once a year.  This one was a gamble but it could be the golden dollar tip or even more.  I was in.

Off we went.  The cashier was ringing it up and I was bagging it. On and on it went.  Finally, after what seemed hours, the last item was rang up and in the bag.  The order was somewhere over $140.  Keep in mind this was 1970 and that was a lot of money and a lot of groceries. Payday was in sight.  And then she said it, “I think you overcharged me. I want to see the manager.” Well, this was not going to be good.  He came over and the decision was made to re-ring the entire order. Bummer.

I began to take each item out of the dozens of bags and the cashier began to re-ring the order.  After a year or so (ok, it only seemed like a year) the new total was in and it was actually more than the first time. Good grief.  Well, she wasn’t happy but she did pay the bill. Off we went with a “wagon-train” of grocery carts and I filled the back of her “ark” sized car and back seat.  All I could think of was dollars…that was a mistake.  She gave me the grand total, the whopping amount of—nothing.  Zero. Nada. All that was given was a curt thank-you and I was left standing there. No tip. No big payday. Nothing. I was disappointed and devastated.  I had taken the gamble and lost.  Like Kenny Roger’s song, I should have known when to hold ‘em, when to fold ‘em, and when to walk away”.

Well, that story wedged its way into my memory.  I know she wasn’t pleased, but it wasn’t my fault. Yet the kid who’s “take home” was hugely supplemented by quarters was left holding the bag—no pun intended.  That might be the reason that I have learned to be sure and thank the ones who serve me.  Just like me back then, those who serve us today are largely dependent on our generosity.  I remember my daughter worked at a restaurant for a time.  She has one of those really good personalities and I know she did a great job.  But she told me one day how the ones who tipped the least were the Jesus crowd.  I said, “Are you sure?”  And she affirmed what she said. Hmmm.

A friend of mine told a story of a customer who had a $36.00 tab and left a dollar tip.  Too many times there is nothing.  By now you are saying, “Dewayne, have you lost your mind writing about tipping?”  I’m not writing about tipping…I’m writing about generosity.  You see, if anyone should be generous it should be the Jesus people.  We have experienced the generosity of the greatest giver of all—our Dearest Daddy—who gave His Son so that we could become family.  If we have experienced such grace, shouldn’t we extend such grace—such generosity?  I think so.

It has been said that we Jesus people are the only Bible some people will ever read. It just seems to make sense that we should make sure we are turning to the right pages in that Bible as we do life.  And by the way, that mixed up order, that slow order probably rests on someone besides the server.  And by the way, God doesn’t just show His generosity when we get it right—He’s generous regardless.  So, Jesus person, Christian, believer—whatever name you go by, let’s be sure that the example we set for those around us—whether they serve us at a restaurant or pick up our trash—point to Jesus. When that seems hard—just rest in Him.  If it seems impossible—don’t worry, do it anyway, He’s got this.