100 Pounds Lighter!

Good Evening, your guest blogging, hold-down-the farm, wife of Ed, here. No, I didn't make a New Year's resolution to lose weight in 13 days or less. My weight loss has to do with getting a major project done. I hand delivered a grant application to the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services today. I have been working on this complex project since last September and it is finally complete and the weight of the world was lifted. What a feeling!

I was able to keep to my task despite many obstacles because my deadline coincided with our "Cruising the Markets" trip next week. I downloaded a picture of a cruise ship and made that my computer background. Every time I opened or closed a file, I would get a glimpse of the glimmering Caribbean with a massive ship floating in my screen. How's that for a motivator?

Are you a plan it out, grind it out, project manager? Or are you a proscrastinator who functions best when down to the wire with a deadline breathing down your neck? In college, I could wait until the eleventh hour and crank out some of my best work under pressure at the last minute. As I have "matured", I now try to approach a project in a more orderly, balanced manner.

Why then is it MORE stressful despite my carefully crafted plan of attack and strict schedule? It could be that the stressors I face now havc greater consequences than whether I would receive an A or a C for my efforts. Today's stressors are more closely linked to the mortgage getting paid, keeping my job, or the fact that others are also dependent on the outcomes of my efforts.

In any event, it is done and I can sleep soundly tonight and turn my attention to other things in the morning. What a relief!

Speaking of the Caribbean and relief, please say a prayer for our fellow humans in Haiti. One cannot imagine the suffering and devastation in a country that has already suffered so much from natural disasters and violence.

Ed and I visited Haiti a few years back. We saw unimaginable poverty. I remembered today that my former parish back in upstate NY sends a 30 person medical team on a mission to Haiti each year. The simplest things like a cut can lead to amputation or death in a country as poor as this one. The relief workers, upon their return, told us stories of a warm, friendly people with joy, hope, courage, faith, and gratitude in the face of poverty and oppression.

We can only hope that the relief promised by nations around the world reaches Haiti in time to help alleviate some of the suffering. When I pray to the Lord tonight, I will say an extra prayer of thanksgiving for our many blessings and ask His mercy on those who are most in need of it this night.