Naomi Widow Yard
One holiday I was looking forward to a restful day off since I had had several stressful days coming into it. My wife had gotten up very early to go walking with a friend. When she got home, I was still in bed. She said there was tree limbs and debris throughout the neighborhood caused by high winds the night before. Then she said that the old widow lady who lived down the street was out with her walker tying to clean her yard. At first I thought, ‘Let her kids clean her yard. She has plenty who live in the area.’ Then the thought of her falling over in her walker and I got up but I was not happy to have my day off interrupted. Do you think I was going to let our five children sleep in while we went down and worked in the neighbor’s yard? ‘Everyone get up!’ I ordered. ‘We are going to help our neighbor clean her yard.’ You would have thought they’d been asked to get a couple of teeth pulled. After much coaxing, everyone finally got up and put on their work clothes. As we walked down the road, my wife looked happy.
As we arrived with rakes and a wheelbarrow, we found our neighbor attempting to clean up the rubble. She was using her walker to keep her balance. As we worked in her yard, she commented to me and my eleven-year-old daughter, Naomi, “I’m just a poor widow lady and don’t have any money to you.” Naomi said, “You don’t need to pay us. We want to do this!” I thought, “You little hypocrite! You were just griping as loudly as I was a little while ago and now you’re trying to be the hero!” As we raked and picked up the trash, a warm feeling began to grow inside that is hard to describe. I felt a spiritual lift just picking up branches and raking leaves.
Walking home after several hours of work, Naomi said, “Dad, let’s do that again! I had so much fun.” I think what she really meant was, “Dad, I like the good feeling I get when I serve others.” I felt a very special closeness to my children that day.
