A day late and a dollar short

I'm late! I'm late for a very important date. Can you see me rushing to my computer in my coffee cup embellished PJs, my house booties falling off my feet. It's my day to post and late last night I came up to my office to do just that. But in typical style, I got sidetracked! I had to check out all the great fashions on the Golden Globe runway, didn't I? And I had to read e-mail, didn't I? And ... then my tempermental computer locked up on me and ... after kicking it ... I shut the thing down and went to bed. Then I was reading the paper early this morning and it hit me--Lenora, it's your day to blog!!! So here I am, coffee sloshing all over the floor as I hurry up to get things going. But then, I'm always a day late and a dollar short. That's what my mama used to say all the time. I grew up on a farm and it was a hard life. I was in charge of feeding the pigs. In order to do this, I had to go to the corn bin every afternoon and shovel up a five-gallon bucket of corn and drag that down to the hog pen and go in there with those big, mean hogs and cute little piggies and try to get to the feeder before they ate me alive! But before I had to worry about that, I had to worry about snakes and rats in the barn where the corn was stored. Talk about adventures. I think this is why I became a writer. I'd go into that corn bin pretending I was a famous spy and that I was dressed to kill. If I saw a snake, I'd bat my eyelashes and quickly chop him up with my trusty silver-plated shovel. "Take that, you old snake!" Sometimes this ploy worked and sometimes I'd running screaming out of that barn. All of this is to say, today it seems as if we're all a day late and a dollar short--and pretending things are okay doesn't always work. But knowing that God will provides does work. I have a little sticker in my line of sight on my computer. It says "Abiding Love surrounds those who trust in the Lord."--Psalm 32:10. I read that first thing every day, no matter what kind of mood I'm in. And even though I worry just like everyone about what the future will bring, I do know this--I will survive. I have survived the corn bin. I have survived the sloppy hogs. I survived cropping tobacco and hauling peanuts and not having a lot except a roof over my head and food grown right out my back door. I can make it in this world, because if I'm responsible and hardworking and do my best, God will provide. God is never late because He always knows exactly when we need him. I also have this list near my computer:

Eight Steps to Happier Living
1. Face reality
2. Establish warm relationships.
3. Develop outside interests.
4. Seek new adventures.
5. Guard your health.
6. Take pride in yourself.
7. Learn to relax and laugh often.
8. Look toward the future.
And if I might add my own to this list I've had many, many years--
9. Trust in the Lord.
And 10. Remember, better late than never!

Lenora :)