Levels of "Tired"

I am a "happy" tired tonight. To me, there are two kinds of tired: happy-tired and frustrated, useless tired.

The frustrated, useless tired feeling hits when I've run around all day (or night) and haven't seemed to accomplish anything.

The happy-tired is when I might even be totally exhausted but I have something to show for it. Today, a Freecycle friend, with 3 daughters to raise alone, emailed me that she could make it across town around 5 this evening and would be willing to pick up some things I offered to her when she came back into town a short while ago.

Freecycle is a group found in almost every reasonably-sized city in the country. Go to their home page and search by city name or zip code, and you'll find the closest one to you. If you are a very small town, it might show the next larger town to yours. The idea behind Freecycle is to keep things out of rubbish dumps and get them to people who need what you no longer need. I love it. I get rid of stuff I no longer need, and I get things I need, for free.

Anyhow, I had planned on going through my thoroughly cluttered home for some stuff for her and the girls but I had put it off again and again. Her email stating she could come today at 5 kick-started me into action. My 71-yr-old bod got moving. Moving boxes, moving bags, opening boxes, opening bags; stuffing bags, stuffing boxes. I was happily amazed at what I found that I could donate to this little family. I spent several hours during the day packing stuff for her, and then carrying it through my home and out the back door and down the few back steps of the mobile home. Then back up the steps for more. And back down the steps. You get the drift.

After a while, around 3:30 p.m, I had to begin dinner. Fortunately, last night, I had decided on stir-fry chicken. I think the good Lord steered me to something quick, easy, and delicious knowing that this would happen today.

It was a total joy to stuff her SUV with those things. It was a total joy to jump into the shower - well, by then, I was not able to jump at all. And now, I am happily tired and ready to call it a night. A happy night.

Dear Father, thank you for guiding me to an easy meal today, knowing my day would be busy. Thank you, too, for motivating me to begin to de-clutter. And thank you, also, for trusting me to help this little family.