Making A Difference....Or Not....

   My youth pastor from when I was a teenager always quoted Jude verse 22, "And of some have compassion, making a difference" (it's actually his life-verse) which is basically saying to do good to other people (to make a difference).  Doing your "good deed of the day".  Well, I totally stink at doing good deeds of the day.  Oh, it's not that I don't do them, or don't like to do them, it just seems that whenever I do a good deed, it turns out to be useless or unnecessary.
    One week, I was on a roll.  My good deed had been deemed useless, so the next day, I saw an opportunity that I knew just couldn't go wrong, and I took it.  Our town was going to host the USA Pro-Cycling Challenge for a day, and the week prior I saw a van sitting in a parking lot with a sign that said "survey in progress". Well, duh.  They must be surveying the traffic flow of this particular road for race day.  Well, as my mind was wishing them well, I realized that there's a preschool on this exact road.  Since all schools were starting the following week (race-week), this guy was NOT going to have an accurate survey for the day of the race. 
     So, I decided to let him know that the traffic flow on this particular road, on that particular day, at this exact time (early a.m.) would be severely heightened.  After I told him this information and he thanked me, I felt better.  So much better (and happier-hey, I just saved race-day!) that I decided to let a few friends know of my good deed (how else were they going to know that I just saved race-day?).
     Even though my children do not attend that particular preschool, they have friends who do.  After talking with the parents of these friends, I discovered that my good deed was-once again- futile.  Even though most of the public & private schools were starting the Monday of race-week, this preschool (whose patrons would have affected the traffic flow) was not starting for another 2-3 weeks!  Imagine my devastation when I realized that yet another "good deed" had turned out to be not so good.....
    So, if you see me on the street and I fail to help someone across, or don't pick up a piece of trash or ignore that hurting person, please remember that there is a reason.  My "good deed" will probably back-fire and cause more help to be needed.  My not doing a good deed, I am doing a good deed.
     *Editor's note: Michelle will still continue to do good deeds, but do not expect positive results

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