A bit of a 'Beth Day'.....

I had a bit of a 'Beth Day' on Sunday. For those of you who don't know a 'Beth Day' entails me doing something stupid-usually accidental in nature,typical of Beth (me!). My sister once gave me a Winnie the Pooh card that she said reminded her of me. It said something like 'This is Winnie the Pooh. He is always doing silly things...but its ok because things usually end up alright..'Thats me.
In the afternoon i decided i needed a break from study so i thought I'd go for a drive. As i was driving i decided to stop in at a house inspection. I got out of the car and walked up to the verandah. I was already feeling a little awkward as i was on my own and worried that the agent would look at me and think i was actually 15 (i can look quite young for my age) and wonder why i was wasting his time inspecting a house when i hadn't even finised my VCE.
Anyway the agent came out of the house and shut the door, telling me that he had to keep a dog inside. I went to go inside and the agent stopped me and asked me to take my shoes off. Great- i had odd socks on. And not just two odd white socks but one was green and one was red-typical! So i quickly tried to slip my boots off so he wouldn't notice my odd socks but anyone knows that when you're feeling awkward and trying to hurry it only makes things worse- especially when you're trying to unzip a knee high pair of boots from under a pair of pants while at the same time trying to cover your legs because due to the winter weather your usual regular leg wax hand been slipped back a couple of weeks-okay maybe an extra month.
Right so after looking postively foolish i walked inside to be greeted by the dog.... and the rest of the family sitting in the living room infront of the teli. WHO DOES THAT? And it was an open plan house too, basically there was no where i could go to get away from this family. Plus i was the only person inpsecting so i had the agent trapsing around after me the whole time!
Needless to say i got out of that house pretty quickly.
SO i continued on my SUnday drive and decided to go to Helens Hills winery(where matt and my wedding reception is being held). THe car park was full- the only space left was right next to the entrance so i pulled up into my VIP parking space. I got out and enjoyed the views of the yarra valley. Breathing in the fresh air i went for a bit of a wander. As i came back to my car I searched for my keys only to look into my locked car and see them in the ignition. FANTASTIC. I had locked my keys in the car. Seriusly i have locked my keys in my car so many times its ridiculous- i've done it in the church car park, at katies house, at work, at dairy bell, at surrey hills church and more! So then i had to ring my sister to get her to come and rescue me with my spare key while i loitered in the car park. Of course i had parked right next to the restaurant door so basically every person that left passed me standing there next to my little 87 corolla hatch trying to look like i was just pausing for a minute to check my phone messages when in actual fact i had been standing there for 20 minutes and was getting rather cold!

Compromise

Compromise. Probably one of the most important ingredients in relationships with people (after love and forgiveness). I looked it up in the dictionary, it means '1. a settlement of differences by mutual concessions; an agreement reached by adjustment of conflicting or opposing claims, principles, etc., by reciprocal modification of demands.'
There are some things that are easy to compromise on-
What movie shall we see?
What do you want to have for dinner?
Which piece of pav do you want-the one with the most strawberries?? (okay i admit thats a pretty tough one)

Then theres the things that are a lot harder to compromise on. The things that are really big. Perhaps the things that you feel are important to you but for whatever reason your family/partner/friend/pastor/boss thinks differently about.

Then it gets even trickier when you bring God into it. I know a pastor that had to step down from his church because what God was telling him was the opposite of what God was telling the leadership board. Who's hearing correctly???

Yet where is the line between compromise and actually losing yourself or what you believe in? See compromise has two meanings
-the first one as I stated is basically two people coming together and MUTUALLY making an agreement
-the second one is a negative term; 'A concession to something detrimental or pejorative (eg a compromise of principals)'

I don't think its always clear which kind of compromise someone is making. Often in a compromise one person seems to be compromising more!
Sometimes a compromise(type 1) is to compromise (type 2)!?

Its tricky hey?!

A prayer from Mr Leunig

Sorry its another ode to Spring but i love it!

'Dear God,
We celebrate spring's returning and the rejuvination of the natural world. Let us be moved by this vast and gentle insistence that goodness shall return, that warmth and life will succeed, and help us to understand our place within this miracle.
Let us see that as a bird buids its nest, bravely, with bits and pieces, so we must build human faith. It is our simple duty; it is the highest art; it is our natural and vital role within the miracle of spring: the creation of faith.
AMEN '
Michael Leunig