Ten Pounds of Potatoes in a Five Pound Sack

Tonight Jana offered to make a phone call for me.  On the surface it sounds pretty inconse-quential.  But the effect of loving things is often the context in which they are offered.  Let me explain.

Last night we had our annual family Christmas home evening.  Jana and I brought her mother with us and we all had such a wonderful evening, complete with a visit from Santa and our not-to-be-missed white elephant gift exchange.  (I won a matching set of cassette tape programs titled "How to Light Her Fire" and "How to Light His Fire".  Sounds like some quality time coming up.)

After the party we took mother back home.  When we arrived home and got inside mother was feeling quite ill.  She was shaking uncontrollably although she didn't feel feverish and the house was warm.  She asked me if I would give her a blessing, which I did.  That plus the complaint of a chest pain made me decide to spend the night to make sure she was all right.

Mom has a young woman who stays with her at night so she won't be alone.  She arrived shortly after we did.  We decided to send her home with Jana and my daughter.

Mother was feeling better this morning.  I called her doctor and made arrangements for an appointment in the afternoon, then, after fixing her some breakfast and seeing that her day helper was on top of things, I headed home so I could get my daughter to a dental appointment.  After snatching a couple hours of work I headed back to mother's at 12:30 so I could get her to her annual eye doctor appointment which was followed by her primary care doctor appointment I had made this morning.  As a result of her exam the doctor suggested she needed a chest x-ray so he made arrangements and we headed to an imaging center.

I had a young woman who was to meet me at 5:00 for an interview back at home which would be followed by an evening of interviews at the church starting at 7:00.  When we arrived at the imaging center I called Jana to give her an update as to what was going on.  I caught her just as she and my daughter were heading out to do some shopping.  I mentioned my concern about getting home by 5:00 and Jana simply asked, "Can I call the young woman for you to see if she can change your appointment?"

I know that to some that doesn't seem like a big thing.  And I guess it's not.  But I had been worrying and watching the time trying to figure out how I was going to make everything work, especially with the added x-ray appointment.  Jana was able to see that you can't fit 10 pounds of potatoes in a 5 pound sack and just lightened my load by offering to take care of it for me.  The cheerful tone in her voice and the offer of help was, to me, truly a loving thing.

As it worked out, I got home shortly before 7:00, just in time to change my clothes and be 15 minutes late for my first evening appointment.  I pulled out of the driveway just as Jana and my daughter were pulling in.  We waived as we passed.  The afternoon and evening all worked out just fine, thanks to Jana's thoughtfulness with a simple offer of help.

Shortly before 10:00 tonight I called Jana as I was leaving the church to come home.  She asked if I had any money with me as we needed milk for breakfast.  I said I didn't, to which she replied, "Well, stop and get me and I'll go with you to the store."  It is taking advantage of unexpected moments, like going to the store together on a -3 degree night, that binds the ties of love in a relationship.  I'm so grateful Jana thinks to take advantage of those moments.
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IF YOU WOULD, PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT TO COMMENT ON ONE OF THE LOVING THINGS, SMALL OR GRAND, THAT YOU HAVE RECEIVED FROM SOMEONE IMPORTANT TO YOU.