My Weekly Prize

Every Monday morning after I walk into the church and look at my email, I go into the sanctuary to double check for missed sign in/attendance sheets. I always worry that there was a first time visitor whose information wasn't collected so I go through each pew, look in the books again and then put the books back at the ends of each pew. Yes, you are right, this is tedious as there are probably 150 little folders for me to look through. But I have a game I play. Every Monday I look for a prize that I will put on my prize shelf in my office. One time I found a really fun slimy frog for my desk which brought unspeakable pleasure to my frequent visitors. I almost always find a pack of gum or mints...hey, finders keepers. A couple of weeks ago, I found this note that a child wrote on one of our FirstKids scratch pads that we keep in the backs of the pews just for doodling. I read it over and over and laughed every time at the word 'tord'. That just breaks me up!

I wonder how early it is that we humans start comparing our behavior, our looks, our acheivements, our 'success' and ultimately our lives with everyone else's. We simply can't help but to define ourselves in the light or the shadow of others. In order to not seem so bad ourselves, we say, "Hey, take a look at that guy! He's way worse than me". I think of my mother. Her comback would be that we're not talking about that other guy, we're talking behavior in our own house.

Anyway, this little gem of a note is getting taped to my computer so that every day I can remember to quit comparing myself to everyone else. Hey, if you're reading this and you recognize your kid's handwriting, call me...I just love your kid!