I Retract

Well, I am not physically retracting, but I am retracting statements made in a previous blog. I was wrong.

I learned a good lesson about karma this weekend.

We spent the entire weekend tearing up our 105 year old front porch floor and replacing it with newly sanded and stained tongue and groove. It looks 100% better. In rebuilding the porch floor, I also rebuilt my faith in the human race. Without my husband or I asking, we had our neighbor, her two kids, and three other friends help us with all of the work. It was amazing. Friday night we started demo. Of course this is always fun for kids to tear stuff up. Our neighbor came over, sat down in the yard and started pulling nails out of the boards that we had pulled up. We worked for about two hours. The next morning, we were all up and working by 9:00. We finished demo and started cleaning out all of the debris under the porch, raking the dirt and preparing the ground for a vapor barrier and gravel. Again, our neighbor pitched right in without our asking. That afternoon I started sanding all 126 boards. We took her and her daughter out for sushi that night to thank them for all of their hard work. The next morning we started staining. Mid-morning a couple of other friends brought over a bunch of tools and some gatorade and started right in - helping wherever was needed. Same thing happened Monday.

We never asked for any help. This was all voluntary.

So, I have learned a lot about giving. I learned that I am no where near as giving as I should be. It is not about giving to others and getting repaid. You will always be repaid. Often tenfold. It is about doing what you feel is the right thing to do. Giving of yourself selflessly. Not looking for the reward. The sacrifices you make should be enough.

I grew up in the church, but cannot say that I "believe". However, I can see many parallels between Desiree's last blog and the lessons I have learned. God asks you to sacrifice of yourself and do things that are hard. However, if you follow his way, you will be repaid. It just may not be in this lifetime. That should be good enough. Sure, we all like immediate returns on what we give. It is the human way. The key is patience. We can all become better people if we think less about what we are going to get out of an action and think more about how it will affect others. It is hard to put into words, but I feel that I have just undergone a life changing lesson. I feel that I have a deeper understanding of how life needs to be lived. I think I have just witnessed another step in my maturity.