One of Those Days

Have you ever had "one of those days?" You know them, I am sure. These are days in which everything that possibly can goes wrong. Nothing seems to work as planned, prepared or designed.

It began early. I could have sworn that I had my cell phone when I left for work this morning. When I arrived at the office, I could not locate the phone. I spent about fifteen minutes searching every nook and cranny of my car, computer bag, office and areas in between. No phone. I am at a loss.

Upon arriving at Shiloh Church, I was quickly approached by a member of the Shiloh staff who had been experiencing conflict with the representative of the Board of Elections who is in charge of the Shiloh polling precinct. Seems that the precinct representatives wanted in the facility earlier that their contract with the church specifies, that the rep. asked this member of the staff to be here earlier, and that, when he came earlier, no one from the precinct was present until the normal agreed-to time.

Then, about 9:00, the same precinct representative smelled gas in the facility and called the fire department. She notified no person from Shiloh that she was doing so. The facility was evacuated in order for the fire department, who arrived quickly, to check for a gas leak. Some members of staff first heard of the situation when we heard sirens in the parking lot. We were outside, on this, thankfully, gorgeous day, for about 30 minutes. We were not notified that it was safe to return to the facility, but from a member of the staff who had been communicating with the fire department.

I have had three lengthy discussions with representatives of the Board of Elections, more than a few discussions with staff members and volunteers, and even one with a concerned citizen. None of them had located my cell phone, and I was finding myself squeezed between "he said" and "she said."
I had five meetings yesterday and was feeling a need to concentrate on the stack of responsibilities that were piling up in my office. Not to be.

I write all this because I am seeing a need in my day to shift my personal perspective, to alter my attitude, to amend my mood and treat the day differently. Firstly, it is a beautiful day. The temps are to reach in the neighborhood of eighty degrees, the sun is brightly shining, and Shiloh's grass is being mowed by a very faithful and professional group of people who showed up in the midst of the chaos. They were unaffected. They went about their business on the church grounds as if nothing had happened.

I can replace the phone. It is well out of its two-year contract, so it should not cost me much. I will lose the contacts and the information that I had stored there, but that is minimal. Things are pretty well worked out with the Board of Elections, though members of staff remain troubled. There is nothing that we can do about it today anyway.

It is Tuesday. That means that Shiloh has Bible study tonight. That is always great news. As evidenced by my writing this blog post, I am getting to the stack of things on my desk, despite the interruptions of the day. All in all, despite the bumps in the road, it is a splendid day...and I get to shop for a new phone. Thanks be to God for such a beautiful, marvelous, fabulous day.

Namaste.