Mary’s Minute
“Remember what Jesus said… clean room nine.”
~ Bill Bower
On Valentine’s Day I feel compelled to write about the
greatest love of all. The quote from my
dad above has a story behind it. Growing
up as a child, my dad said often, “Love one another.” Sometimes it was “Remember what Jesus said, love
one another.” And often it was simply, “Remember
what Jesus said,” and we knew that meant to love one another/be kind to each
other. It often was basically a soft way
to say, “Don’t scream, fight, or hurt your siblings!”
One day my brother, sister and I found a note my parents
had left us on the kitchen table. I don’t
remember the content of the body of the note – likely where they were going,
when they would return, etc. What I remember
45 years later were the postscripts. The
first was the common phrase, “Remember what Jesus said,” but right under it was
another postscript that ran into the first, “Clean room nine.” Our family owned
a small hotel/boarding house, and we all helped out. The direction was a simple request to get
room nine ready for the next guest, but as it merged with the biblical
reference, we laughed then and still laugh about how it sounded.
Years later our family has grown to not just laugh at this
quote, but to relish and reflect upon it.
It is the constant message from my dad to put love above all else (love
as Jesus loved), but also to take care of the things in front of us (in this
case cleaning room nine). It gives me a
sense of grounding that I cherish.
Love above all, but don’t forget to take care of business
along the way because it is in taking care of the business of our lives that we
demonstrate genuine love.
Happy
Valentine’s Day!
With
love,
Mary
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