The Giving Side

June 6, 2018

Be careful what you pray for; you just might get it. This morning as Linda and I ate breakfast together, I asked God to bless our anniversary by enabling us to bless others through our witness in word and life. You know how you pray for things that seem ordinary and routine when you pray them? God has a way of answering those prayers in anything but ordinary ways.

For weeks, we’ve been trying to decide what we wanted to do for our 48th anniversary. We’ve not been terribly successful. I knew that whatever we decided, the day would be sandwiched between an early morning pastor’s prayer hour and a village board meeting. Some anniversary! It started out as I expected, praying with some pastor friends from the North County. My subsequent search for a city map took me from City Hall to the Chamber of Commerce to no avail, but in the process, the left side fuel line on my bike worked loose. I noticed it when my foot started feeling wet. Instead of going to the office to clear up some routine work, I had to go home to change shoes and pants. 

We finally decided to get a couple of lamp shades to replace two that were getting pretty ratty, after which we stopped at church to drop off some paperwork. Chatting with the folks gathered there for a few minutes, we then headed to Buffalo to visit our friends Harry and Beth who were holding vigil for his brother Don in Roswell’s ICU. While there, Don took a turn for the worse, and we had the holy privilege of sitting and praying with them and with Don’s wife Sharon. 

My phone rang; it was Latrece, one of our Dunkirk women. I was scheduled to visit her aunt tomorrow, but she too, had taken a turn for the worse. Could we come tonight? Of course. So, our anniversary ended praying for a woman I’ve never met, holding before the throne of grace the family gathered around her bed, and setting up some mentoring time with a young man struggling in life.

It’s late. It was a good day; my breakfast prayer was answered to the nines, and on this anniversary, we are both so grateful to be on the giving side of life. It is a privilege many never have.