THE NEW EWE

"What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'"

Luke 15:4-6

May 24, 2023

LIFE IN THE FOLD

I do the majority of the mowing of our lawn. My husband works full-time, I don't, so that's only fair.

A couple weeks ago, when I mowed, I wasn't sure if there was enough gas in the mower, but couldn't figure out the safety on our one container that had gas in it. Our other containers were empty. I took the cap off and managed to get enough gas in the mower to cut all of our lawn. Had I been able to fill the mower tank, my plan had been to also mow our neighbor's lawn, too. An elderly widow lady owns the property, her son hadn't had time to come mow, and the grass was starting to need cut.

Over the next few days, Jon filled our gas containers and showed me how to work the safety lock. I had been afraid I would break it, but you do have to push it really hard.

Last Thursday, I decided that I needed to mow, since it was supposed to rain overnight and all the next day. First of all, the dew was so heavy on the grass that I had to wait until afternoon to mow. I went ahead and did the weed-eating -- until I ran out of string in the weed-eater. Then I push mowed the ditches, which are hard to get on the zero-turn mower.

In the afternoon, I started mowing and got the backyard finished and was moving to the front, when our neighbor's son pulled up next door. My intention had been to mow that lawn, too, but when I saw the son pull up, my initial thought was, "I'll just let him take care of it! I don't need to mow for them." Immediately, I felt the Holy Spirit say, "Ask him if he would like you to mow his mom's yard."

I did, and he was so excited! He said, "That would be great, if you don't mind doing it!" He and his wife were there for another purpose; to meet his mom, sister and brother-in-law to take care of some business on their mom's behalf. He told me that every time he had had time to mow, it would rain and then the grass was too wet. He had planned on coming over and mowing that evening, before it rained. I told him that I didn't mind mowing the lawn, but wouldn't do the weed-eating or mow the ditches (which our zero turn is too big to do). He said that was fine - he would take care of that. So he picked up sticks out of his mom's yard and opened the gate for me that goes into the backyard.

I finished mowing our lawn, then went over and mowed for this neighbor. After I finished and showered, I ran the mom's mail over to them, which we pick up if she's not home. I told them that I had intended on mowing last week for them, but didn't have enough gas in the mower and couldn't figure out the safety on the can.

This made me chuckle inside: The son told me that what I needed to do was go to a particular store and for $8.00 I could buy a universal old-time nozzle that didn't have the safety on it, so I didn't have to mess with that,.... that's what he had done for his gas can. He was telling me about it, then said, "I'll just go buy one for you!" I internally laughed and thought to myself, "He wants to make sure I have access to mower gas so I don't have an excuse for not mowing for them next time!" I'm sure that thought didn't even enter his mind and he was just being kind!! He was being nice and trying to help me out. I mowed the mom's yard occasionally for them last year, but they never took advantage and were appreciative when I did. I understand that they are busy working full-time and sometimes it's just hard to find time to come do it, plus take care of their own lawns. So I don't mind helping out from time to time.

I know that was a long story, but felt like I was supposed to share it for a couple reasons.

Sometimes we feel those nudges to do something kind for someone to help out or bless them. But then if something happens where we don't think we may need to do it, we are quick to think, "Oh, I don't need to or have to do that now! They can take care of it themselves... they don't need my help!" That's what I did when I saw the son drive up yesterday - even though I had felt nudged to mow their lawn for a week.

When the Holy Spirit drops it into our heart to do something, we need to follow through. Stop looking for reasons or excuses on why it's not necessary.

I had a choice yesterday when I had that thought of not mowing for them and felt that internal nudge to ask the son if he would like me to mow. I could have ignored it and thought, "They are capable of doing it themself!" or "What if they are offended and think that I'm criticizing them for not mowing yet this year? I'll just not say anything!" Or I had the choice to do what I felt impressed to do and ask if he would like me to mow.

When I ran the mom's mail over afterwards, the mom, this son and his wife, and a daughter and her husband were all there. They were all very appreciative and thanked me repeatedly for mowing. I know that they were genuinely thankful. I may not even fully understand how that one act of kindness touched their hearts and blessed them.

I do know that the daughter's husband has been dealing with cancer and treatments for several months now, so they've been going through that situation. I have no idea what else this family may have been going through. But God knows!

Understand, that when the son was telling me about the nozzle of the gas can and said he was going to buy one for me, I was thankful for him thinking to do that for me. I knew his intent is not so I'll continue mowing for them all summer, but he was being kind! I just want to preface what I'm going to say next with that.

There are times when we think that people have ulterior motives and we misunderstand what they are saying, and we are quick to think the worst. We think, "Well! I just did that for them and now they're saying........!" We become offended when really there is no reason for offense. That person may not have any idea that their words have caused us to jump to conclusions or become offended! They may be thinking that what they are saying is them being helpful or kind, but we misinterpret it.

That can happen with those closest to us - our spouse, siblings, parents, children, best friend. Something is said that is misunderstood or misinterpreted. Someone gets upset with us and we don't know why! When they tell us, we are surprised, because we didn't mean it in that particular context or what we said was misunderstood very differently than we intended.

On the flip side, we can be the ones who misunderstand or misinterpret what is said to us, causing us to be upset or offended or hurt. When that happens, we need to talk it through, instead of allowing hurt or anger to fester in our heart and mind. We may find that we were the ones who misunderstood what was said and the context in which it was meant.

As I was mowing for my neighbor, I prayed for this family. My heart felt happy and blessed, and I began to sing songs about Jesus. My hope is that they (as well as others) will see Jesus in me!

I want to encourage you today to be obedient and be kind. When you feel those nudges to do something for someone, just do it! Don't try to rationalize why you should or shouldn't. We can easily talk ourselves out of doing things that we feel we should do. Let's not have the attitude of "What's in it for me?!" It's not always about us! It's about being like Jesus and touching those around us, for His sake.

JON'S PERSPECTIVE:

Today, I was working at a customer's site. I didn't have a place there to eat, so I went out for fast food, and ate there. A couple of other customers were saying their goodbyes to head different ways when one told the other to watch out for deer. But after the other one was gone, he kept talking. It took me a few seconds for it to sink in that he had started talking to me instead. "He's hit 4 deer this year, and totaled 3 cars."

Normally, I would never visit with a stranger at a restaurant, even if they were a server and obviously bored. That just seems weird to me. So my instinct was to ignore him, or possibly (if I was being very generous) just glance at him and give a friendly smile & nod.

But this time, I felt like I needed to be friendly instead of ignoring him. I said, "Wow!" And I mentioned that someone makes a thing that uses the wind to make a noise while you drive that is supposed to drive off deer. He wasn't sure if that would work, but thought it sounded like a good thing to try.

If he has kids, I bet they get embarrassed every time he visits with strangers. And even though I don't like it myself, I think it's nice that some people can do that. So I hope I was an encouragement to him to be kind and friendly, instead of embarrassing him.

Sometimes the Holy Spirit doesn't nudge us to do something major like mow. Sometimes it's little, and just meant to keep someone encouraged to be friendly.

ON THE MENEWE:

Soft Butter Cookies

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix cream cheese with softened butter. Add in egg and vanilla. Slowly add in cake mix, until thoroughly mixed.

Use small scoop to make 1-inch balls.

Double roll each ball in powdered sugar. Place on cookie sheet (nonstick or with parchment paper).

Bake 10-13 minutes.

Cookies stay soft and delicious.

THIS, THAT AND THE OTHER:

I absolutely love it that my niece and nephew's children like hanging out and spending time with me! A while back I got a text from my niece's 13 year old daughter. It said, "Yo -- come get me!" I thought, "Where is she at and why would she want me to come get her?!" I text back and asked where she was at and she replied that she was at their neighborhood park. Knowing that she is now 13 and can be a tad moody, my first inclination was to wonder if she had gotten mad at her parents and ran off to the park. I called my niece and just as her phone rang, Jemma confessed to her mom that she had just text and asked me to come get her. Janee' answered the phone, "Jemma is at the park with me! She text you because she is bored, so wanted you to come pick her up and do something with her." It was after 7:00 in the evening and I told her that I was already in my nightgown and didn't want to get dressed again. Jemma said, "That's okay! You can come in your pjs. I'm still in my school uniform, so same difference." I wondered what in the world that silly girl thought that I slept in, if she thought it was equivalent to her school uniform?! Needless to say, I didn't go pick her up! I told her we'd hang out another time.

THOUGHT TO PONDER:

An umbrella cannot stop the rain, but it allows us to stand in the rain.

Faith in God may not remove our trials, but it gives us strength to overcome them. - unknown

OUR HEARTFELT THANKS TO YOU:

We love you!

Loretta & Jon

http://www.graysheep.org