John and Lisa's Blue Skies Blog – Soaring with God

John and I smelled smoke yesterday near where we live in the Ocean View area of Norfolk.  Since we don’t have a television and we don’t get the newspaper, I decided to check online to see about a possible fire in Ocean View.  Sure enough, I found this sad story about a fire in a motel. 

The story startled me with its discussion of people living in these types of motels as an escape from homelessness.  In my relative wealth, I’d never stopped to consider that people could be in such a bind as to resort to living in motels.  These folks choose motels because they can pay week-to-week and don’t have to come up with a security deposit.

And now they are deprived of a roof over their heads.

This morning during my shift working the front desk at the YMCA, a member mentioned that the water seemed rather cold in the men’s locker room.  Maintenance came and looked at the hot water heater but found nothing wrong. 

Two hours later (it’s quiet at this particular Y), a man exited the locker room and bruskly informed me about the water being ice cold in the shower.  He said it was “miserable” taking a cold shower; he said he couldn’t take that again and threatened to never come back.  I told him maintenance had checked it but I would call them immediately to have them fix this obvious problem.

This man is normally very friendly and talkative with me.  We’ve been discussing his workout routine and his goal of weight loss which is going very well.  I was shocked by his changed demeanor prompted by the lack of a hot shower.

How often do we act like this when we’re deprived of the things we take for granted?  Can we step back and appreciate what we DO have?  Can we remain friendly and cheerful regardless of whether we get the things we expect?

I was planning to make some tea in the microwave at work – but I forgot to pack my tea bag.  Oh well.  Instead of drinking my tea, I’ll spend some time praying for people who suddenly find themselves homeless.