We Are Community 126
If you have followed this column for long, you will remember “The Royal Family”. They were my family of Maine Coon kitties consisting of Victor, Victoria, Prince William and Prince Harry. The first was picked up out of the street in front of the antique store. The second was brought to me by a neighbor who could not keep it. The Princes were their children. The family had their own summer home, a garden shed with a screened in front porch and their winter quarters also. The last of the family, Prince Harry, passed on Thanksgiving. I had not planned to “replace” Prince Harry as we had been pals for 17 years but God had other plans. A tiny ball of fluff showed up at the antique store a few weeks before Harry passed. Puff is now quite happily bouncing around my home.
On Monday, I put new Christmas lights on the gazebo and made black bean soup for the church planning meeting. Tuesday at the meeting, the committees planned the dates for all the committee meetings for the coming year. If all goes as usual, they will all be changed!
Had my yearly check with the doctor on Tuesday. Have changed all my medical tests and appointments to Carthage and thus far am very pleased with that move. Got to see a lot of the actual hospital during the appointments for blood work, mammogram and bone density scan-before that had just seen the emergency area and the building behind the hospital. Impressed with everything. We are lucky to have this modern, well-staffed medical facility in our county. There is a large pond in front of the hospital with many geese enjoying it. Lovely to see the geese, probably not lovely to have to clean up after them.
Last week, I told you about a late fee from one of my credit card companies. I gave them the check number, the date it was mailed and that the check had cleared my bank. This week they told me that I had to contact my bank and have the bank send proof that it was indeed the credit card company who had cashed the check! But that is not the end of the tale. I got a credit card bill this week saying that I had over paid my account by $167. Well, we both know that I am smarter than that so looked at the payments. Quickly figured out that they had posted the payments meant for two separate accounts to one. Called and gave the dates of the payments and the correct accounts and asked that they correct their error. Lady on phone, probably in India from her accent, said that she could do nothing about the problem. I am persistent and we eventually got it straightened out but I expect to receive another letter telling me that an account was not paid. I tell you all this again to stress the importance of keeping track of your credit card bills, receipts and payments. Credit cards are wonderful if used correctly.
One of the Bible readings this week contained this verse. “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit”. I had picked up a book “Chicken Soup for the Soul. It turned out to be a book of short stories from people with cancer. One was a comparison of recovery rates of two different doctors. They both gave a combination of treatments. The abbreviation for the treatments had the letters H, P, E, and O. One doctor gave them in random order and had just over a 20% survival rate. The other doctor gave the letters in HOPE order and had over a 70% survival rate. It appears in both passages that HOPE is important to our well being and as well as our happiness.
May you have HOPE this holiday season and always. Remember to give thanks each day for your blessings and then share those blessing with others. Scatter Kindness and Love.