The Wheel, The Inclined Plane, and Being Nice.

I'm a teacher, so all summer long I pretty much have no idea what day it is. Monday? Friday? That's really neither here nor there. Because of my very untethered lifestyle in the summertime, I sometimes get a version of lost. I have very little schedule confining (or guiding) me, and my free mind runs off to daydreaming about things that represent "freedom" to me- like jumping in the car and driving anywhere in the contiguous United Sates tomorrow. It's always tomorrow. I have so many possibilities for my days, that sometimes I just end up in this mental loop of all of what I COULD do, and before I know it I have done little more than dream the day away. Since I go through this same freedom-dilemma every summer, I made the decision to take action this year. My summer is going to be FREE, but I am also setting goals for each day so that I can live purposeful moments.

I decided early on, that my summer had to have a theme. It could be anything, but I had a few criteria. I wanted it to bring good to my world, to be meaningful, and to help me become more like Pope Francis. Perhaps that's an interesting choice for me, since I am not Catholic. I say Pope Francis instead of saying "be more like Jesus" for a few reasons. First, because Pope Francis is really "cool" right now, second, because when people hear "Jesus" they just stop listening, and third, because the "cool" things that the world loves about Pope Francis are the just big fat JESUS things. The Pope embraces the scarred, he sneaks out at night to feed the hungry, he tells us to take care of this beautiful planet, he washes the feet of juvenile offenders, he condemns the love of money, and his actions back up his words. I'm glad the world finds it all so refreshing and cool. It would be awesome if they knew it's been done before, and even more awesome if all Christians did it so well. But hey, baby steps. Pope Francis is showing the world Jesus, and they like what they see. So, yeah, my theme for the summer has to help me be more like him. I'm not very complicated, and my theme has to reflect that as well.

Here's what I came up with. Every day I am going to make someone's day better. That's it. It's so simple, it just might work! I might be the car in crazy Orlando traffic that lets that pour soul trying to merge get in front of me. I might be the person at the grocery store (always)with the overflowing cart that lets the guy with the eleven items go first. Maybe I will be the mom who plays Superman instead of mopping the floor, or the wife who scrubs the patio doors with Comet to get the muddy dog paw prints off because, after all, they have been there for way too long. I don't know how it will manifest, and I don't want to PLAN it too much because it IS summer. I'm just approaching every day searching for a simple way to make another person have a better day. So far, I have to tell you. It's making my days a lot better too.

I believe simple things can change the world. For example, the wheel, the inclined plane...and being nice.