Never Too Busy to Smell the Roses

Well, I have started back at the old Steak House and I'm glad to say that the last two weeks have been stellar. I have gone in every shift with a more biblical understanding of hope. That's right, dear reader, I am no longer going to work with a pipe dream of somehow paying for the gas at the end of the day and the bills at the end of the month! I am going with an expectation that there is a point in going to work! There will be a reward!!! Although I have been working a bit the last couple weeks, I have not been too busy to smell the roses! Let me tell you what I mean.

The other day a couple came in for their thirty-fifth anniversary. It always makes me happy when people seem to enjoy one another after all that time. This was one of those couples. They were happy to be there. As couples are prone to do, they asked me if I would take their picture with their digital camera. After a couple failed attempts, I captured a nice, sharp photograph of Mr. and Mrs. Hardy, checked my work, smiled, handed the camera back to the woman, and went about my business.

When I walked back by the table, she wanted to show me the picture I had just taken. If you knew me, you would know that I really don't like having things repeated to me time and time again. That includes pictures I had just taken. I know it's a good picture- because I just took it. They were sweet people, though, and I didn't have anything else going on, so I humored the woman.

"Yep", I humored, "oohh, that's a good picture"

Then Mrs. Hardy wanted to show me some other things on the camera. I was afraid of this.

"Take a look at my flowers." She pleaded

Here I was, I thought, about to take a stroll through a stranger's flower-bed and act like I knew what her award-winning hydrangea-growing secrets meant. But she didn't want to show me flowers she had planted. Instead, she showed me a bouquet of red roses and pointed out that her beloved had given her these only hours before.

"Good job, Mr. Hardy!" I instinctively replied.

I thought it was a sweet scene. Then I thought about it some more. Here is a woman who feels so loved by her husband that she can't help but tell a complete stranger about the tokens of his love. She wanted me to know that her husband loved her. She wanted me to know that she was valued and treasured in his eyes. She wanted me to know that the years had not strained their love. Her husband still loved her and gave her more than she needed to express his love for her.

And another thing stood out to me. Without thinking, the focus automatically shifted from Mrs. Hardy and her red roses. It shifted off the menial tasks that I had to take care of and my defense system automatically broke down. Here I was naturally complimenting Mr. Hardy on his generosity. He had done something he must have done hundreds of times over the past three and a half decades but it was still fresh and new. It still had meaning. It still evoked feelings of joy and comfort from his wife and adoration even from an outsider.

Then I though about it some more. What a sweet picture of God's love for his children. He has given us life again today. He has given us life billions of times before, but he did it again. He has given me his word today. He has given it thousands of times before, but he did it again. He has spoken to my soul today and let me know that Jesus' death stands for the death I deserved and his life stands for mine. He has spoken to me in this way too many times to count, but he did it again today!

His love for us is like Mr. Hardy's love for his wife. Whatever struggles they have had along the way, the years have only strengthened their love. Somehow, too, it is all still new. The novelty of a dozen roses never fades away. The novelty of new life in Jesus should fade away no less!

Wherever you're at today, don't be too busy to stop and smell the roses.