How do you deal with being rich?
Yes – you are rich.
I am rich.
But – how do we deal with it?
I’m not navigating it well. Never in my entire 52 years of existence have I lived through a week with so many varied moving pieces.
It started with wanting to support Tom with his Ironman 70.3 in Wilmington. Which happened to be on the exact same day as a wedding I committed to over a year ago. In Mooresville. Impossible to be two places at the same time so I had a brilliant idea that I could do both. Then I started to worry . . .
“What if I get a flat tire on the way home?”
“What if my car breaks down?”
My solution was I would abandon my car, Uber to Mooresville regardless of cost, and get Layne to meet me somewhere to get me to the wedding.
Luckily I made it to the wedding and it was a beautiful experience for the couple.
And Tom nailed his triathlon. Two events = success.
Then Sunday there was the Halloween event. 400 kids registered.
I woke up remembering while I’d donated lots of candy for West, I’d forgotten to keep any for myself. Much less decorate my trunk. Off to Walmart I went. At 5 am they do not care if you have on your pajamas at Walmart, in case you were wondering.
SOUL Creations had a booth at the Halloween Extravaganza. We sold very little. So that brought a little could to what was actually, a beautiful day. YOU made that possible. But I was so caught up in all the stuff, I did not make rounds to all the trunks to say thanks. I apologize for that!
Monday was a day to cram . . . . get things ready for the “Sip and Shop” at The Point. We wanted SOUL to have a great presence there.
Then, Tuesday WAS Sip and Shop. Clearly by this point I was completely overextended, so Dawn/Layne carried the day. I was ready to bail on the entire thing. Even tried to, actually. But Beth Packman, one of our missions team leads reminded me of the mission. And – why we were doing it in the first place. So . . . off the team went to Sip and Shop. Great connections were made and there’s a new storefront that wants to carry our product (without asking us for commission!)
Tuesday night I was set to fly to DC for a filming of my journey with the Johns Hopkins experience. The flight was supposed to leave at 8. Which became 9. Which became 10. Then 10:30. Then got a new plane. Then 11. Finally, at midnight we left. I reached my hotel in DC and got in bed at 2:30 am for an 8 am filming.
And – there is a Golf Tournament on Thursday (I’m writing this early for once!) and oh yeah, over the past two weeks, we’ve had massive wedding drama.
The wedding drama sent me over the edge. Vendors increasing prices for less services at the 9th hour . . . . it’s just a lot. And not just financially. Emotionally. Mentally. Kleenex and I have been fast friends this week.
Wednesday morning I stood in the National Cathedral for part of the filming.
They wanted me to look at the stained glass windows as they took some shots.
It was a long time of standing in one place and staring at something.
Frankly, was one of the best things that has happened in quite some time.
Whereas the windows are lots of little pieces of glass strategically placed to then tell a story, upon closer look, the individual pieces – even the tinest ones, often contained their own story which added up to the greater story.
In the tiny pieces of glass contained images of animals, buildings, people, beautiful imagery that you would NEVER notice unless you were taking the time to stop, stare, and take it all in.
You know, I created the insanity of this week for myself.
Tom reminded me the other day that I had started a tendency of “bailing” on things lately (LIke I’ve postponed the dentist 2 times now).
I’ve started overcommitting and underdelivering. Not because of malicious intent, I just have this need to try to “do it all.” In doing so, I’m missing so much.
The cathedral taught me a lesson.
Stop.
Breathe.
Take it in.
We should all think about that because I imagine I’m not the only one who misses that mark.
Over the next month we are going to talk about being rich.
We are all rich, whether we realize it or not. In the top 4% of the world in yearly income.
But how do we deal with that? Do we run ourselves ragged or do we recognize the gifts we have in our lives and live into them and use them for the betterment of ourselves and the world?
SUNDAY – you do NOT want to miss in-person worship! If you live in town – THIS is the Sunday to attend. Chili Cook Off highlighting our missional partners and you get to vote! The winning chili (mission) gets a special offering for their mission.
It isn’t too late to sign up!
https://www.signupgenius.com/
Grace and Peace,
Andrea