Dave's Deep Thoughts

Here's Pastor Dave McDowell's weekly devotional that he sends out to members of his church. Dave is my brother and serves as the Music Minister at Stewartstown UMC in PA. This is his final devotional this season and will begin again in the fall.

Sometimes when you are in a hurry,

it's the best time to slow down.

A few years ago,

I was on my way to meet with a parishioner

for a evening counseling appointment.

I was pressed for time

but thought I had just enough time

to drop off my dry cleaning

before the store closed.

At that time,

I was transitioning to a new vehicle,

actually a used car that had been my mother's.

But she had reached the season of life

where she was no longer able to drive,

and so I had become the owner.

The car was very new to me,

and it still had some of my mother's items in it,

mixed in with things that belonged to me.

In my busyness

I thought,

I need to clean out this car.

Great, another thing to do on my long list.

It was the middle of winter

and it was dark

by the time that I left the house.

On my way to the cleaners,

my mind was filled with thoughts

anticipating the counseling session.

Because it was the middle of winter

my lips felt very dry.

I reached for my chap stick

to ease the dryness.

I began to grumble about winter.

Knowing that I had no time to spare,

I ran into the dry cleaners.

The attendant spoke very little English,

but she knew what I wanted

and so we were able to

do what we needed to do.

As I left,

I realized I would just make it

to the church on time and started to relax a bit.

I began to think about the dry cleaning attendant

and how friendly she was.....

she had a huge smile on her face,

big enough to light up the world.

I began to ponder how busy and agitated

I must have appeared to her\,

and yet she kept smiling at me.

I then began to think

about the parishioner

with whom I was about to meet.

She was a deeply troubled woman,

and I couldn't help think about

the stark contrast between her

and the dry cleaning attendant.

I reached the church

just moments before the parishioner.

I heard her enter the office

as I was in the next room getting a cup of water.

I was praying that

I would be used in this session

to help her through this troubled time.

As I came into the room,

I looked at her and greeted her.

She looked at me

and she burst out laughing.

So much for being troubled,

I thought.

Then she said to me,

I'm not sure that shade of red is your color.

I ran to the mirror

and saw that what I had thought was chap stick,

had been my mother's lipstick.

Then I realized why the attendant

had been grinning from ear to ear.

Sometimes when you are hurried,

you need to slow down.

And sometimes,

when you feel harried,

you need to stop and take time

and just laugh at whatever is attempting

to burden your soul.

Who knows......

maybe if you do exactly that,

it will bring a smile to someone else's face.

"Then our mouth was filled with laughter,

and our tongue with joyful shouting;

Then they said among the nations,

'The Lord has done great things for us.

We are glad!' "

Psalm 126: 2-3

Have a great summer

filled with many moments of laughter and grace!