Rainy Days and Mondays

The Carpenters lamented how "rainy days and Mondays always get me down" on their hit single, but I am having a rainy Monday and LOVING it.
My dogs are snoozing peacefully on their freshly laundered blanket; my house smells of Lemon Pledge; and a biography of perennial television guest star Fred Stoller awaits on my nightstand.
This is a perfect day to gather my favorite blanket, my sweet puppies, and my highly entertaining library book and read the afternoon away in bed while the rain pours outside my window.
There was a time I'd feel guilty doing this.
How can I lay around while others are hungry? Shouldn't I be outside getting wet if others are too? The weather shouldn't stop me from commitments.
The latter is true.
I've never let the weather stop me. We've done street feedings in 27 degree weather. I've delivered important mail in hurricane-force winds. I've counseled outside with heat indexes of 110.
But I also learned to take care of myself.
Early on, I nearly burned myself out. I'd go eighteen-hour days, 7 days a week. I'd run all over town, driving people to appointments and stores, and bringing food. I'd start cooking on Friday night so that I could serve a big Sunday meal after church for fifty or so people.
Because we only had my seven-passenger van, I'd make three trips to pick people up for services on Sunday mornings. I spent seven hours on the road on my "day of rest."
It got to be too much.
I had no idea where to cut back. Whose needs lacked priority?
Soon enough, the answers were clear.
Most people were eligible for free transportation to doctor's appointments through Medicaid; they just preferred my chauffeur services. That was cut.
Some people started hiding their alcohol purchases under their coats when I'd make store runs. That was an easy cut.
As I started to realize I was enabling more than assisting in many ways, it became easier to determine what to let go of.
As I started having more time to spend on my marriage, the church, and most importantly, my time alone with God, I found that I became more productive and Spirit-led.
Sundays were a much harder decision.
We'd been praying for a church van so that I only had to make one trip, but it hadn't materialized. I began to wonder if God was closing that door. The one Sunday meal was taking almost 75% of my weekly grocery budget. We'd try to save leftovers for the week but people would load up their plates for their own leftovers. At least I had jars of peanut butter and sandwich meat, I'd think. It was a dilemma and one I prayed about for weeks.
We made a decision to stop providing transportation temporarily. That first week was strange.
I was used to the chaos in my van on Sunday mornings. It reminded me of my kids. I wandered around the church aimlessly before services.
We had McDonald's for lunch. Alone.
That was a little sad.
But then I realized that I was spending so much time on everything but worshipping the Lord on Sundays.
So the hiatus continued.
We are now looking for a building closer to the homeless camps to hold a mid-week service and do our feedings from a centralized location.
In the meantime, I am out and about all week long.
Except for rainy days that fall on a Monday.
Those are for me.