What? Locked up?

 

Years ago, I drove to Calgary, for a 'holiday of visits.' I didn't really know some of the people I dropped in on but... someone else's acquaintances are always a adventure of possibilities. 

So, we found our way to an address we'd never been to and the adventure began.

Now, we were all Christians and yet... we attended different, well, denominations? Yes, I think that is the right word... same faith but core values might have been interpreted a little bit differently.

Well, someone I knew, who knew one of these families, had warned me to keep my purse close to my side. I laughed, thinking she was being a bit dramatic. Did she really think a sofa sit down would lead to a purse snatching? Then I thought, I don't have enough in my purse to make it worth snatching. 

The conversations began and there was a healthy, rowdy interchange of what you do, how you earn a living, where you attend church... when a slight movement by my hip made me pause and I noticed my purse moving away from me. I looked over at the offender, smiled, pulled my purse onto my lap and the evening continued without harm. I had been duly warned and my reaction time was 'timely.'

I was thinking about what I serve when I have company... pie, pie, pie... when I noticed padlocks in strange places... I thought, well, that does not look like a pie safe to me! And, even if it was a pie safe, no rodent is going to need a padlock to keep those pests out. So, who are the padlocks supposed to keep out? 

I was feeling a bit uneasy about this so I used the bathroom... when I get a bit 'uncomfortable' in strange settings I just use the bathroom to resettle myself. As I walked past the kitchen, I saw padlocks on the cupboards and then I knew there was definitely something wrong here.

Now, I can understand if you've got a really bad 'renter type' of person living in your house who doesn't respect boundaries... Whew! I've heard more 'renter hell' stories than you can imagine! 

So, I thought about a tea towel I bought one time. "... and a good book...," well, I thought, these people need the good book. Then I thought, they have the good book. They should just read it.

So, the evening wore on and I thought about the saying... 'they're eating me out of house and home...,' and I know some people can eat a lot but I never had that problem, with any of my children. So, I thought, maybe there isn't enough. 

Now, not enough! That is always a problem. My Mom and Dad worked sun- up to sundown, in summer, to make sure we had enough in winter.

These days, when I think about how wonderful life was with my boys... they loved to eat, I loved it when they would eat... my Mom was like that, too. So was Dad. They prepared so much food each time we 'got together,' they assembled little packages and sent those home with us as well. 

Weren't we blessed to always have enough? 

I was a very sane and generous and healthy thinking person and, I assure you, I never locked up the food. 

What a privilege to live in a country where we have enough and we don't have to behave like people did during famine or times of conflict.

If you have enough, make sure your children have enough, too. That is a very Christian thing to do.