I hate emptying the dishwasher. Silly, but true. It takes like less than five minutes, I know because I timed myself.

I farm it out to the teenager when I can. She hates it too.

Today I was filling it back up, which I actually don’t mind doing. A negative thought popped into my head. Right now I can’t even remember what it was, but I felt myself starting to feel down & frustrated.

All of a sudden “Thank you Lord for your blessings on me.” ran through my head.

I immediately started thinking about the sweet lady who used to sing that song at church many years ago.

Shirley Davis was her name. She lived in a trailer near the Rock Store. She had suffered a stroke at some point. I don’t ever remember her pre-stroke.

She limped. She slurred her words. She would drive her old blue station wagon right up to the side door at church and park it. She would slowly make her way in & sit on the right side up front.

This is the only song I remember her ever singing.

The chorus goes like this:

“There’s a roof up above me
I’ve a good place to sleep
There’s food on my table
And shoes on my feet
You gave me your love Lord
And a fine family
Thank you Lord
For your blessings on me!”

I just love the fact that she is still blessing someone with her testimony.

She had nothing to speak of. According to the world she was poor, crippled, alone.

But she had faith. And she had a song.

She has been gone for a long time now.

How wonderful is it that she is still having an eternal impact for the Lord that she loved so much?

That got me thinking what am I doing that will have an eternal impact?

Oh I pray I’m doing something. Actually I pray the Lord is doing something through me.

I pray when I’ve lived my last days (many years from now hopefully) that someone thinks of me with a smile like I think of Shirley.

It won’t be emptying the dishwasher that’s for sure!

It won’t be singing a song.

I may never know what matters & makes a difference & that’s ok.

(This is not a fishing expedition, so please doing pamper me with kind words.)

I’m going to make a more determined effort to share my joy & faith & hope with others.

Please join me. The more the merrier! Goodness knows we could use more joy & faith & hope these days.

Thank you Lord for your blessings on me!

Here’s the link to the song if you’d like to hear it. Jeff & Shari Easter do a fine job, but I love Shirley’s humble version the best.http://youtu.be/YGzhMDsb3sY