Can you take as well as you give?

"the lame walking" 

Matthew 15:31

Would you believe I am mostly ~ but not quite completely ~ healed of my broken toe?  It's been over a month of hobbling, then limping, then "walking-normally-but-still-wearing-my-husband's-slippers". 

I was slow going up stairs, and moving furniture (which I need to do every week at Bible study).  I couldn't run (not that my daily life calls for a lot of that).  I had trouble sitting on the floor or squatting, because it caused me to bend my foot in a way that hurt.

I know, I know... it's just a toe... but I really slammed it hard!

It's certainly not the most incapacitated I've been in my life.  I've had broken legs (well, one leg, twice.  And probably just the ankle, now that I think about it.  But crutches nonetheless.)

And of course I was pregnant twice.  Which, by the end, has you grateful for people offering to do things for you. 

But it was a reminder to me that there are times when you have to let people help you.  Sometimes you need it, and you know you need it.  Other times you think you're fine, but someone else wants to do something for you.  Maybe they see a need.  Maybe they simply see an opportunity.

I've been seeing the same hair stylist for about five years.  She's married now, with four boys.  But when I met her, she was a single mom.  And I used to pay her extra every time she cut my hair, because I had the wherewithal, and she had the need.

And then, gradually our roles sort of reversed.  I was never a single mom (praise God!) but she got married, and had two incomes at a time when the Apple of my Eye was out of work.  I never complained to her, but we did chat, so she knew what was going on in my life.  And in addition to that, she could tell that I went longer in between appointments, as getting a haircut wasn't a priority for our budget.

So one day, as she finished up with my hair, she told me that this haircut was a gift. It was something she wanted to do, and she could.  The perfect combination.

Some people just want to get.  Others do better at giving than getting.  Each should be a blessing; look for the opportunities for both.

~ "to him who knows to do good,

and does not do it,

to him it is sin" ~

James 4:17

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