Spore-adic Surmisings

 “He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings…” --I Timothy 6:4

 

    Mark DeJesus likes to say that people should do one thing every day that stretches them. For procrastinators like me, I take that to mean I should do one thing that I’ve been neglecting every day. While it’s not a hard-and-fast rule, nevertheless, it’s a good idea. So yesterday, on a whim, I decided to tackle my overflowing shelf of magazines and catalogs that I cut pictures out of.

    As the pile grew smaller on the shelf, I noticed something white on the back of the shelf. Of course! The problematic mold issue had returned, since my desk is against a poorly-insulated outside wall. So I discarded the few catalogs and magazines that had mildewed pages, and strode purposefully out to the kitchen to grab the Lysol wipes and a few paper towels.

    As far as the family mood that day, it had started out jovial and gradually slipped into a cranky, argumentative rut that seeped into everyone’s conversations. So when I approached Daddy and told him about the moldy shelf, his dour mood deepened. “Great,” he said, and then, a muttered something I couldn’t quite make out.

    “What?” I asked.

    “Nothing,” was his reply.

    I asked him a couple more times, and each time, his irritation grew as he tried to deter my persistence. And, being the obsessive thinker that I am, my paranoia about what he COULD have said grew. Had he said, after he had explained that I’d possibly need a new desk, that, maybe, since I’d have to dig into my hard-earned editing money, I’d have to go without a desk? Or, even worse, had he suggested maybe I’d need to move away in order to take care of the desk problem altogether? My feelings were hurt, to be honest, over such comments.

    Later that evening, after our usual Bible time, Daddy and Adin departed out the door for Adin’s night-driving slot, and as soon as they were safely out the door, I poured out my sad tale, complete with the things I thought Daddy could have said.

    Justine, who had been present for Daddy’s and my conversation, grinned, and said, “But that’s not what he said at all! He said, ‘One problem after the other.’”

    And we all laughed at what I thought was said vs. what had really been said! But, in all honesty, it wasn’t fair to assume that Daddy had suggested such drastic measures for taking care of the mold problem. After all, I knew that things said in the heat of the moment lost their intensity later, and may not have been meant the way they had sounded.

    And maybe I should take a Lysol wipe to my evil-surmising mind. 