Send responses to: andybowman839@gmail.com
Two elderly sisters, one widowed and the other never married, were living together. They had decided the year before that because the oldest owned her house, the younger should leave a rented apartment and move into her sister’s second bedroom.
After the initial “Move over, I’m needing more drawer and closet space than this!” complications were negotiated, they began implementing their plan to coexist in that cozy little home. It had been decided beforehand the younger sister would pay a reasonable monthly rent, and together they would split the utility, home insurance, and grocery bills. With that arrangement in mind, both felt they would have a fairly adequate idea of their own future financial picture.
This worked pretty well the first year, with only a few hiccups disturbing the peace. But then. Younger sister, having always had an extremely soft heart for the hurting and broken people who crossed her path, developed a new passion. She realized that she could help them in her own, albeit, small way.
Soon she had her own ministry aimed at providing food for as many as she could fit into her budget, which was admittedly tiny. But of course, word quickly got around the community that help was available in the form of one small fragile woman with a huge golden heart. Her ministry to the hurting and hopeless begin to take on a life of its own. Resulting in more needy people knocking on her door.
It wasn’t long before keeping up her share of their household financial commitments was getting impossible. Something obviously had to give.
And indeed, something did give. A piece of paper appeared on the older sister’s little desk one day. Hand written at the top was “My Tab.” Underneath that heading was written a small insignificant amount of dollars. Beside that amount was the explanation, “Part of my rent this month.”
The subsequent conversation that evening consisted of the younger sister explaining to the older, that due to giving a homeless man money for food that week, and also having refill her own prescriptions, she was going to have to owe her sister a “few dollars toward the rent” until next month.
The two sisters had a great relationship and enjoyed living together for the most part, so the oldest easily agreed to waiting. But the end of the month came, and instead of the expected payment, the tab had grown longer. Always just a few dollars, and with a logical explanation written beside each entry.
Their warm enjoyable relationship was beginning to cool.
Six months later, with an even longer tab, some hot words, and no tangible payment toward the now sizable total, their former comfortable relationship turned into an ongoing chilly standoff.
It is a good thing to give help to the hurting. But not at the expense of neglecting your own obligations. Your reputation gets damaged. So does personal relationships.
Comments