So the man standing there behind the podium a Sunday ago, he tells us about good deeds and being created to walk in them. I listen hard, because my season of raising a brood of five taxpayers is coming to a close. What do good deeds look like now? When days consumed with feeding a family’s bodies, minds, fevers, and frenzies suddenly aren’t?

I have time to think of such things when I’m sitting in a ditch, face to face with a bob-wire fence and the reality that the car I’m driving is stuck, and good. Fancy that.

It had been quite a day already. First, my husband and I tackled the impossible not long after daylight — bathing two cats. That feat was followed by our youngest succumbing to illness and the couch. Then there were four loads of laundry, a printer that failed to perform, a dreary hour observing justice court, a gravel road detour due to bridge closure, and now this: A Sentra’s sad slide into muddy oblivion. Did I mention my 4-wheel drive was in the shop? And all the while it rained. Steady.

Sitting still in a ditch has its perks, though. You have the luxury of time to notice things like the rhythm of rain and windshield wipers. Wrinkles on your hands. Grass spikes in the dead of winter. And to ponder good deeds.

Truth is, this past month I’ve had the privilege of meeting some noteworthy good-deeders. Early on, I spent time with three individuals who are making waves of the best sort down on the Coast. I started out with Susie Harvill, director of Advocates for Freedom, an organization that does the dirty work of curbing human trafficking in Mississippi. Later, I visited Diane Easley, a grandmother who provides a home and hope for ladies coming out of things like sex trafficking and drug addiction. After that, my daughter joined me for a Q & A session with a mover and shaker in the foster care community, Pastor Tony Karnes.      

Back at home, I called on Joyce White, a fixture out at Dickerson Place. She’s been doing good deeds for the children living on that campus of the Mississippi Baptist Children’s Village for some 34 years. That’s a long time. And last week I visited a science lab at Co-Lin. I watched instructor Anita Cliburn do her thing, which is a pretty important thing, since she’s educating medical wannabes who’ll be poking and prodding us all in years to come.

I tell you, being around such company can certainly inspire. I look forward to describing more of the important work these individuals are doing in future columns and magazine pages.

But back to the ditch.

I didn’t have to wait long before my dad and his trusty Silverado came to my rescue. That’s important, because my “quite a day” wasn’t over. Supper needed starting. The cougher on the couch needed attention. A passel of Bible drillers needed me to make it to Wednesday night church. I may not have my next season all figured out, but I guess I know what’s needful now. 

For what good deeds were you created? Walk in them.

Kim Henderson is a freelance writer. Contact her at kimhenderson319@gmail.com.