Prideful Anger!

The company that I work for has an attendance bonus that you can receive if you punch in and out on time everyday of the month. Before covid, you used to have to punch in and out for breaks and lunch in addition to punching in and out for work. Now they just expect you to punch in and out at the beginning of your shift and at the end. Sounds pretty easy right. Think again (well at least in my case). Two weeks ago, in the middle of the week, I was switched from one of our facilities to the other. Now anyone who knows me well, knows that I am a creature of habit. So my whole habit was upended. I've worked the other place before, but it had been many months since I had been over there. So basically relearning everything all over again.

One day, a truck was running late to deliver some product. I really don't want the overtime and was kind of mad that they expected me to stay. My pride was getting in the way. "How dare they ask me to stay to unload a truck". "Don't they know that I have things to do?" "I don't live to work here." So long story short, I did stay and unloaded the truck even though I wasn't happy about it. So with my pride being hurt, and being ticked off, I failed to punch out when I went home. Because of my prideful anger, I just lost $150.00. That is the monthly bonus amount.

Proverbs 16:18 New Living Translation (NLT)

¹⁸ Pride goes before destruction,
    and haughtiness before a fall.

So because of my pride and haughtiness, I destroyed my paycheck by $150. Because I thought that I was more important, I let my anger get the best of me, and it cost me.

Proverbs 14:17 The Message (MSG)

¹⁷ The hotheaded do things they’ll later regret;

It wasn't until the next morning when I realized that I hadn't punched out. My boss emailed me to ask, and I told him that I was sure that I did. But then I started thinking about it. In my anger and being upset because I had to stay late, I just grabbed my stuff and headed right out the door, bypassing  the time clock. In my hotheadedness in the moment, I regretted that I just had blown my bonus for the month! We depend on that extra money each month. It was easy peasy to attain. Punch in, punch out. Pretty simple, right!

 The company doesn't always ask me to stay late, but sometimes they do. I can't ask God to provide money for our bills and then He provides overtime and then I get mad about the overtime. Who am I to question God and His provision.

Proverbs 19:11 Amplified Bible (AMP)

¹¹Good sense and discretion make a man slow to anger,
And it is his honor and glory to overlook a transgression or an offense [without seeking revenge and harboring resentment].

I pray this verse the next time something like this happens!
    

 

    

    

    

Proverbs 16:18

Memorial Bench.

 

 

When my mom passed last December, family, friends and loved ones generously gave us money in her honor. We were overwhelmed with the generosity shown to her (us). We were trying to figure out what to do with the money and how to honor her memory. We thought about putting a flag pole out at the pond in Maple Park. We decided against that. Then we thought, "why not a memorial bench?" So that is what we decided on. We contacted a local stone company to make this bench for us. We gave them all the specifics that we wanted and they said okay, we'll get started on it. We could not have been happier

with the final result. Red, white and blue boards on the back. All white boards to sit on, and a plaque with her name on it and two flags on either side.

  

 

 

Now the decision on where to put it. We again thought about that pond in Maple Park. Others had placed theirs out there. No, we didn't think that would be the best place for it. Then we had a epiphany. Why not place it at the old school building. Right by the ball diamonds where she spent hours upon hours and years watching me and my two brothers play ball. Perfect. As an added bonus there is a picture of her Dad's (our Grandpa's) gas station on the side of the building. So her memorial bench is right by the ball fields underneath the picture of her Dad's gas station. How neat is that?

 

So thank you to all who gave to make this bench a possibility. We love it, the family loves it, and I pray that whom ever sits on it will enjoy it watching whomever play's ball there.

 

                                                 

 

 

John 15:1 Amplified Bible

¹³ No one has greater love [nor stronger commitment] than to lay down his own life for his friends.

 

My mom never laid her life down for anyone. Not saying that she wouldn't have. But she sure put her life on hold or pause for many of us. She was there for me on so many occasions, as I'm sure that she was for a lot of you. Family, friend, didn't matter. If you needed her, she would be there. It didn't matter what she had going on, she would drop it and help out where and when needed. Because of this attitude that she had with her family and her friends, it showed with the outpouring of generosity to us during her passing. This what this bench means. It is memorial to her, but a reminder of what she meant to everyone that knew her.

 

God Bless you all!