An example of voice tone offense

Some years ago we had a lovely family in our church. They had four beautiful blond daughters. This was during a very stressful time in our lives, some family members had been burned and eventually died. One morning at church, before the service started, V. said something to me and I answered her. At the evening service she came up to me and asked if she had done something to offend me. I said, "No, of course not! Why do you ask?" Well, she gently explained that I had been gruff with her that morning. I was devastated that I had hurt her feelings and apologized profusely. We hugged and everything was okay. I think that was the perfect example of going to the one who offended you and clearing it up, instead of pouting and being hurt by it and holding a grudge, etc. I am so thankful she came to me. I used a tone of voice that had nothing to do with the immediate situation or with her.

Tone of Voice

I was wondering the other day about the different tones we use when we talk to other people and animals. Why do we do the singsong baby voice with our cats and dogs, etc? We have a certain way of talking to parrots and other types of house birds. One of my cats comes more quickly when I call her that way than if I call in a normal voice. I think we sometimes are unaware of how we may sound to others. Some people always sound like they are chastening you, some sound like they're patronizing you or talking down to you, some sound like they think they're wasting time talking to you. Some people are really difficult to visit with over the phone because they have no inflection in their voices, or sound totally disinterested, all the while they may be very happy to be visiting with you. Know what I mean? On the other hand, some people sound so gleeful and joyous that they seem to not be aware of the bad things in life. Oh well.

SPAM AND BOLOGNA DAY

This past Tuesday my church's nursing home ministry provided a lunch at the church for the members of my Bible study group, which I do weekly at their center. These people are mostly in their 40s, 50s, 60s and are mostly diagnosed with schizophrenia. I love them tremendously and thank God that he gave me this ministry.
The activities people brought 17 people and we had several of our folks there to help. We served them bologna and Spam sandwiches. Horrors, you say! Well, let me explain, We've been doing this at least three times a year for about 10 years. We have served hotdogs and hamburgers, Mexican food, hotdogs and chili, and various forms of these things. This time when we were discussing it at the center, I said, "Well, it will be on April Fools' Day and I can serve you bologna sandwiches if I want to!" "Yeah! That would be good." "How about Spam?" on and on. So I talked to the administrator and she said that would great because they love Spam sandwiches but it is expensive to serve in such large quantities. So we did it. And guess what? They loved it! We had fried or not fried bologna, fried or not fried Spam, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, baked beans, corn on the cob, pop, chips, apple crisp, spice cake and ice cream. You know you have to have that squishy white or wheat bread to make it right. A guy played the piano, another guy played his guitar and had a little sing-a-long with them. One of the residents used to be a pastor and he also plays the piano. He played and sang and it was so sweet and touching. He hopes that his wife will bring him there to church, but I don't know if that is possible or not. I don't know their circumstances or why they are there. I just want to treat them the way they want to be treated, and they just want to be treated like any normal person.

Well, I do care, do you?

I was listening to the car radio a while ago and a country (?) song was on, something about "I don't give a d$$$ what other people think about me", or something like that. He didn't care what other people think? Well, I do. I have known a few of those "I say what I want, I do what I want, no one can tell me what to do, I'm my own person, no one owns me, etc." You know, those people who get outspoken mixed up with rude and hurtful. Well, I'm a professing Christian and I want people to see that in me. I absolutely do care what people think of me, not in an egotistical way, but because I don't want to smudge my Savior by my behavior. Does that make me egocentric? I don't think so. I don't care so much what people think of ME, but I do care what they think of HIM, and I am supposed to be representing HIM to THEM.

Is it Coming????

Here it is people! Just what I was talking about on one of my blogs. Check it out.

http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000006962.cfm

Being thankful

Are we ever as thankful as we should be for the unobvious things?

1. When we trip and don't fall

2. When we pass a car and don't get in a wreck

3. When we wake in the morning

4. When our kids come home safely from school

5. When we find our lost kitty or dog

6. When someone does a random act of kindness toward us

Meme from the Spinster

Inner Voice of a Spinster in the Making tagged me with this meme.



The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
Each player answers the questions about herself/himself.

At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves a comment, letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog.



WHAT I WAS DOING 10 YEARS AGO:


Dealing with my sister's death in Dec. 1997


Dealing with my mother's death in Feb. 1998


Dealing with the death of that sister's husband, in Mar. 1998


Dealing with my daughter's divorce and helping her get back on her feet


Working at a job I absolutely loved, with people who got me through the above.


FIVE THINGS ON MY TO-DO LIST FOR TODAY (TOMORROW AS TODAY IS ALMOST GONE):


Hopefully have a visit from my daughter and her kids if all are well.

See my sister, her daughter and her granddaughter who are travelling here today from Kansas City area.



Go watch "The Passion" at our church tomorrow night.






SNACKS I ENJOY:


Anything ice cream, with potato chips


Chocolate Zingers


Cherry pie


Anything chocolate pretty much

Popcorn and apples


THINGS I WOULD DO IF I WERE A BILLIONAIRE:

Give mucho bucks to church missions

Set aside some for each of my daughters

Send all of my five grandchildren to college

Let my husband buy as many trucks as he wants

Put aside some in case of nursing home needs


FIVE OF MY BAD HABITS:


Throwing newspapers on the floor

Using the coffee table as a desk

Taking long naps

Being really slow to get around in the mornings, unless I have definite plans

Watching too much television


FIVE PLACES I HAVE LIVED:

Colorado (though FIVE different towns)

Kansas

Indiana


EIGHT JOBS I'VE HAD (I'VE BEEN AROUND A LONG TIME):


Concession stand in theater

transcriber at a welfare office

transcriber at an insurance company

teller at financial company (hated it, hated it, hated it)

transcriber at state mental facility

caregiver in group home for mentally challenged adults (hated the politics)

activities director at two different nursing homes

transcriber at family doctor's office

I don't know anyone to tag except Kay, QOTW, Julie, Mel, Robin, and I think they were already tagged. If you weren't tagged, then you are tagged!