When Guests Become Servants

Don't your guests normally let you serve them? Have you ever had guests who come to serve you in your home? Yes, this is very unusual, but it is happening to me this very week!

On Sunday my brother Ernie and his wife Dori set out early from Winnipeg, and called me when they reached Regina. Dori asked if I had room in my fridge and my freezer as they were bringing lots of food. But they would go to their campsite to set up their tent before they arrived at my house.

I quickly went to move things around in my fridge and freezer to make room for their stuff, and I started a casserole with some of the food Elsie had made for me, ready to slide into the oven.

They were at my door about 5 pm, and brought food in with several trips back to their truck. It turned out I had cleared just exactly enough space!

We had a great visit, but they left about 10 pm for their campsite to get into their tent for the night.

We agreed that we could start our day on Monday about 10 am, but they arrived closer to 11. This time Dori took charge of making our lunch.

Right after that Ernie asked for my list of projects he could do for me. I assured him they were optional, and that most of those projects should only take him a few minutes. I needed to know, mainly, if certain things were worth having fixed. Two of the projects would take maybe several hours; they involved clearing waist-high weeds for my melon patch, and some weeds in the alley so I could sow sunflowers outside the fence.

After Dori and I did the dishes, I went out to check on Ernie, and he had already cleared most of the weeds, and I could start sowing the sunflowers!

Dori had already planned our supper and was working at getting that ready. We had lively visits together when I was inside, but sometimes Ernie came to ask where the next thing was he was to check over for me. So I was in and out and about all day.

He even took on one of Dori's tasks, to help me change my bed linens to the summer ones. (My winter duvet is quite bulky and heavy.)

Ernie also fixed the tension on my sewing machine; how did he know to fix that? Well, when he was in the Armed Forces, his job was to sew parachutes. (To keep these men conscientious they were required to jump with a random parachute from time to time, as a test of their safety.)

Over supper Dori was anxious to organize our visits to some options for seniors' living accommodations. This is a topic I'm not ready to work on yet, but she assured me that they needed to research this for themselves as you often need to be a waiting list for 5 years before you get to move in.

[I'm writing this ahead on Monday night, so that I can be free tomorrow/Tuesday for this shopping around. I've agreed to go with them for research only. I'm not signing up anywhere without plenty of time to pray and discern the Lord's will in this matter.]

They have been so kind and helpful that I can yield, and hope I will learn some things to help me weigh my options. I will NOT be pressured into sudden decisions!

They will be here on Wednesday yet, and on Thursday head on to visit Ernie's daughter and her family in Edmonton over the weekend. Then on to camping in a national park; next to grandson, Deacon's high school graduation towards the end of next week in the lower BC mainland.

Being bombed with blessings by relatives or family is quite an interesting and even great experience. But there may be some hidden motives too, right? We must maintain our inner quiet and composure. That only comes by trusting the LORD's perfect love and grace!

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