Old Bitter Lady

I have a lawn client who is a young, single mom. I'll call her Jill. Let's just say she doesn't put much effort into taking care of anything..... house, car, job, kid...... She has a neighbor. I'll call her Bertha. Bertha is one of those people who is in every one's business. Here are a couple of highlights of my experiences with Bertha:

• She badgered me repeatedly to try to find out what Jill pays me to maintain the lawn - she still does not know
• She gave me an earful about calling the police on the guy who owns the house (Jill's stepfather) because there were some leaves piles in the corner of the house and back yard fence. She wanted him put in jail for that....
• She came into my enclosed trailer, grabbed my arm and threatened to put me in jail for allowing dust to be blown on a car in her driveway. (I was mowing on a windy day and even though I always keep the discharge going away from her driveway, the wind blew dust everywhere.)
• I've seen her sweeping twigs and leaves from her driveway and lawn onto Jill's yard... Jill doesn't have any trees in front....

Here is where the story gets sweet.... Yesterday, I was at Jill's house mowing. I could not get into the back yard because there were so many toys and so much trash all over the back yard. Bertha had been edging her walks and driveway. I got done with Jill's front yard and was blowing off her walks. I stopped and approached Bertha and asked her if she'd like me to blow off her driveway and walks for her. She preferred to sweep them herself. Her reply was soft and thankful. Instead of threatening me or bullying me about the leaf pile (the leaves had gathered again just like last year), she asked very politely what we could work out to take care of the leaves. I had already decided to haul them off.... since I could not mow the back, I had time allocated for her property and the leaves needed to be handled.

I got the leaves all cleaned up. Then, Bertha and I had a very cool 20 minute discussion about her life story and teaching her kids right from wrong..... and how she lost her husband when her 3 kids were very young..... and what she did to survive. She totally opened up her soul to me. We touched on how wonderful God is in the midst of adversity (Broken Pieces). It was a beautiful conversation and time well spent. As I walked away she stopped me one more time and said "Jim, I'm sorry I've been mean to you." (She called me Jim because my mowing trailer has JAMES LAWN CARE on it.)

I just wonder what God was doing in her heart during and after our chat. I know for me, it was simply loving God and loving people by how I acted.

Live loud, live intentionally, and love God and people with every word and every action!