I finally got my easy button!  A quick look around my office will explain this one.  I have a tendency to collect little toys and gimmicks for fun.  Most of them have been gifts I have received over the years.  I have little toy train and Matchbox cars, Brain Teaser puzzles and even a denim side holster for a bottle of Tabasco sauce.  A dear friend of mine has drawn a couple of  cartoons of me and they are proudly displayed as well (We love you Matthew... hang in there!).  These things lighten the mood in a pastor’s office and make the stresses of life seem a little less daunting.  Some of my toys give kids something to do when they come in with their parents.  Sometimes they entertain my own kids when they are hanging out with Rev. Daddy.

A couple of weeks ago, I was placing an order for some office supplies we needed at the house when I discovered the order was about $3.00 short of reaching the $50 free shipping amount so I added an easy button to my shopping cart.  Spending $4.99 on an easy button replaced paying close to $15 on shipping.  It made sense economically... and I got an easy button!  Of course I could have purchased an extra ream of paper or a box of pens or something more productive... but I got an easy button!

You have seen these things on Staples commercials, I am sure.  Some completely disheveled office is the scene.  The employees are facing an impossible task and talking about getting organized.  One of them hits the easy button and ... POOF!... suddenly everything is done!  Everything is orderly and in its’ place.  There is always some poor sap who ends up stuck in the closet or a drawer or some sort of silly thing... and the voiceover proclaims, “that was easy!”

Mine seems to be broken.  As soon as I took the thing out of the box, I pressed my new easy button and was disappointed to notice that my desk was still an avalanche hazard.  My sermon was still not written for the week and I still had a number of phone calls and visits to take care of.  There was an audible, “that was easy” but none of the work was done.  I am now working on the theory that it may not be the result of a faulty easy button at all.  It may be that I am pushing it wrong.  I am working on my technique.  As soon as I get it right, this blog will write itself!  I have faith.

On the other hand, I did manage to rather easily make my wife happy this morning by supporting the other man in her life.  Stessa is the most faithful, loyal woman in the world but I am positive that if Harry Connick Jr. ever walks through the door, I will be kicked immediately to the curb without a second thought.  Lately she has been quite stressed and dreading her daily 25 mile commute to Alpine so I thought I would try and help out a little.  This cold, 38°, morning she climbed into her mini-van to find the CD case of Harry’s (as she affectionately calls him) new album with a note from me.  The CD was already in the player.  I got a very appreciative phone call from her as she drove into Alpine.

I used to do little things like that for her all the time.  In seminary, we lived in Austin, a much larger city.  I could swing by Central Market at lunch time and pick up a bouquet of flowers at very affordable prices.  I could purchase her favorite chocolate covered strawberries from Lamme’s Candies and have them delivered to her classroom.  I could take the time to meet her for a matinee at one of the local cinemas on her way home from work.  The trend continued when I took my first church.  Even though we lived in the smaller town of Seymour, it was easy for us to meet for lunch or maybe I would pick her up a small gift while making hospital calls or attending meetings in Wichita Falls or Lubbock.  Then we had kids; twins first and then a third.  Life got really busy all of a sudden.  When the twins were first born a funeral director friend said to me, “business has certainly picked up at your house lately, hasn’t it?”  Boy was he right!  Not only did life get busy but it got expensive.  Little surprise gifts for one another gave way to diapers and doctor’s visits.  Time together now included short young people.  Basically... life happened.

How easily we forget how easy it is practice random acts of kindness for those we love.  As a minister, one gets to know all sorts of things we would rather not know.  I have known about extramarital affairs before the spouse ever did.  I have known about abuse and fear.  I have even been involved in the aftermath of a husband murdered by his wife.  I have been privy to all sorts of horrible ways people treat each other in marriages and all sorts of relationships.  Those things burn deeply into the memory and just won’t go away.  The more pleasant ones are harder to notice.

Newlywed grooms don’t come to the pastor and proudly proclaim, “I REMEMBERED TO PUT THE TOILET SEAT DOWN THREE TIMES THIS WEEK!”  Wives of retirement age don’t mention the passionate comfort of a glass of wine and a meal out with a spouse of 48 years.  Less stressful mornings where all the children get off to school without a fight or a fit or mess or a tear are not reported by middle aged couples working their way through life.   Often times these things go unnoticed but they are the things that give life it’s most vibrant colors when things begin to appear a little grey.  I wonder, then,  why are we not more intentional about them in all of our relationships?  Why have I let the desire dwindle to offer my bride little gifts or actions of comfort that say, “I love you and I am thinking about you in this moment?”

$9.99 on Amazon.com and a handwritten note will by no means win me the husband of the year award but I managed to make a wonderful woman’s drive to work in the dark a little bit brighter this morning.  Making her happy may just be the most well spent expenditure of my time, money and effort that will present itself all week.  THAT WAS EASY!

For what great person can you do a small thing today?  Who can you make smile by offering just a little effort?  I was thinking that if we all made it a point to do some small something for someone each day this planet would be a much more pleasant place to reside.  I invite you to join me in such an endeavor.  And if you are thinking about doing this but can’t find the time or the money or the energy, come on by the office...  

I’ll let you push my easy button!