I was out mowing the other day and I remembered just how therapeutic it can be to mow the trails. I was stressed about not having the time to mow the yard for three or four weeks. But, Today I finally mowed the trails for the first time this year… actually, I never even mowed them last year either. WHY? Well, my mower broke down two years ago and I finally gave in and asked the neighbor to fix it, “I just don’t have the time to fix the mower”.
How ridiculous is that statement? I don’t have time to fix the mower but magically I would have time to mow? If I had just missed one mowing cycle, I could dedicate that time to fixing the mower, but instead I just missed mowing the entire season.
How often do we do this in life? How often do I put off doing something until everything is right to do that thing? I paid someone to fix my mower because I just don’t have the energy to take on one more “MR. fix it” problem, but mowing takes longer, mowing takes many hours to accomplish, but mowing is therapeutic, and sometimes I just don’t have enough “problem solving” energy to resolve the broken boat motor or the lawn mower. But if they were working, I would easily find time to mow or fish… fishing… that sounds nice. I just need time to fix that boat motor.
How many times do we say the same thing about our relationships with friends? With our spouse? With our pastor? With our-self? Our lives get so cluttered with daily living that sometimes we just don’t have time to fix the things we tolerate. Like the man that fills the tire of his truck every day, he knows it’s leaking and rather than taking 3 minutes to put a plug into the tire to stop the leak, he takes one minute everyday for months to just fill it with more air until he has time to fix the tire…
I had a tire in my life that had a leak, it drove me insane, but over the last 450 days (fixing Sam’s Place) I have had to prioritize my time more than any other time in my life, I never missed an opportunity to restructure my time, to prioritize projects and fix leaking tires. Now I am to the point that I can start to breath a bit, but I feel guilty for taking a day off to work at home, or an evening to relax, or a date night with my gal… we have both been burning the candle at both ends… it’s now time to catch up on a bit of maintenance at home. Our relationships need some attention, and we are now able to start inserting that relationship time back into our lives. I thank God for his direction and for sustaining us this past year.
This summer we are taking a few trips to see our kids and grand babies. It’s hard to allow myself to enjoy some well deserved time off after not even having a free weekend for so long, but I seem to settle in quickly enough to enjoy the few days we are able to squeeze out so far.
One of our biggest obstacles in Bigfork is lack of transportation, public transportation. Our clients have needs that can only be filled by trips to Grand Rapids, so now we are using our little four seater car to transport folks to rapids and back. It’s a mess when we get back home and some days it’s smelly, but we have no choice!
We have had multiple meetings, attended forums and made countless phone calls with public transportation operators, private transport options, D.O.T. … NOTHING! We can get some limited Medical rides if we plan it for two weeks… Recently We had one client miss a Dr. appointment in Duluth because our car was already in use that day with another client’s needs. So, we just need to get a van asap, do you have a van you are willing to donate? We have had offers from some folks to buy their van. The truth is, we can’t afford to buy a van, so we just need to “keep filling the leaking tire” until we can somehow resolve the issue. We honestly loved the offer from one person who offered a van for really cheap…
I just can’t afford to buy a van at a really good price and then spend countless hours fixing the van. We just need that van that works, asap.
So I appeal to you today. If you are reading this Blog: please go to our website and donate to get a van, or… maybe you have a van you would like to donate? Or maybe you would like to match some of the other matching funds to our grants? There will be more information about this in the future.. We need matching funds to fulfill our grant requirements for the following projects: ADA accessible (ramp, elevator)? Painting, exterior upgrades? Fencing, garden and pavilion? Updating the kitchen? Air Conditioning and ventilation (it’s horrible hot in there after that storm we had and even the day before.)?
Where ever you want to help, we have a need!
Visit our website or join us on Facebook
https://www.samsplacenorth.com/general-5
https://www.facebook.com/p/Sams-Place-61559249289857
Asalways, God Bless
C.