I will be the first to admit that having my Anne break her
ankle wasn’t my choice for the summer activities. We had planned to go to
Yosemite and hike Half Dome or Cloud’s Rest. I had wanted to do another
Flagstaff trip over a long weekend. I know that my primary goal is to love my
wife back to being able to run, hike and walk with our dogs. I can see in her
attitude how difficult it is to be confined to home, the couch, kitchen table
or our bed.
My Anne has always been a helper and doer so it is so tough
on her not to be able to fix everything and let other people help her. I had to
ball her out because of trying to do laundry, change our sheets and do the
dishes. I have produced a couple of gourmet meals in the last week, which she
has so much enjoyed. I know that she really wanted to do the dishes and make
sure that the kitchen is clean according to her standards. I’m a great cook but
not as good at the ‘clean up thing’.
Last night we had a pork roast with all of the extras. I had
master minded a great dinner with the only drawback being the pile of pots and
pans in the sink. I really wasn’t too keen on having to shift gears after a
relaxing dinner to have to play busboy and dishwasher. I had received a text
from one of my teens about coming over to print out some documents for
something taking place. Little did I know that his whole family would make an
appearance.
As the garage door opened to the entire Flores family, I
realized that they had come to scour the house from top to bottom. I could see
in the look of my Anne’s eyes that she could believe what they were going to do
at 8pm. I selfishly knew that Maria would clean the kitchen, YES! and put
everything up. I didn’t expect to see the mop and broom machine between Diego
and Sammy. I was totally overwhelmed with how all of them pitched in and had
our entire house cleansed within an hour or less.
I know that it is very difficult for anyone, my Anne or
myself included, to be able to let others do our housework. I was so humbled
and blessed by this act of kindness. I was almost in tears. I quickly made a
special milkshake with bananas and strawberries. It was the least I could do to
express our thanks. The cleaning army finished and put everything back in place
and was just as quickly gone.
One of the ultimate signs of God being at work is when
people choose to do things that they haven’t been ask or told to do. I hadn’t asked
Sam, Pita or Diego to come over and clean for extras cash. They could see my
Anne who is couch bound and knew that this would be a huge extra for us. I was
so thrilled to see the carpets vacuumed and so clean in addition to all of the
bathrooms be spotless.
I’m so thankful that partnership and being gospel centered
does have huge dividends. I don’t serve God expecting anything in return but I
am blessed every day. Just as I help people all of the time hoping that this
will motivate them to step up and do what’s best for their situation. Last
night was a fantastic reminder that everyone is able to give of themselves. The
best gift a person can give is themselves to help another.
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