Servants Hands

Thanks for stopping in! See you next time you need me! Seriously.  The only time I see my mother-in-law is when she wants something.  Today she came to visit my wife so I could change her brakes.  Did she thank me?  Nope.  She did ask me the check the antifreeze while I was at it. Ha!  Seriously though, I don't mind helping people.  It would have been nice to have been asked or given the opportunity to help. That is one of my biggest peves about asking someone to do something.  I don't think there's anything wrong with asking for help, but I do think you should hint a little or mention it to give someone the opportunity to decide to help you before you ask.  An example of this would be my uncle who says "I'm going to work up some fire wood this weekend".  Well, in my heart I know he's not well enough to work up so I feel compelled in my heart to help him.  So I offer my help and he accepts.  My mother-in-law shows up with the parts and says "I need you to fix my brakes".  All self sacrifice has been removed for me.  The only thing I can do at this point is do it or refuse.  Had I been given the opportunity to feel that I had a choice in the matter, I would have felt good about what I did rather than annoyed.  But I am annoyed because although I did all the work and it was all the same it was out of obligation and not love.  Give people the opportunity to serve.  Maybe they have a servants heart and you just don't know it.  You can learn quite a bit about people if you sit back and observe a little.