(1019) Book shelves

You may look at my current title and wonder if I have gone off my rocker. Well, read on and you may think this is my best story yet.

If you have been following my blog, you would know that I believe in a God who answer prayers. Mind you, not all prayers but only those that are consistent with His will for my good.

An old friend of mine asked me out of the blue: please pray for book shelves for her 700 books. So I diligently remembered and prayed. Now, I am a lazy person. I prayed once and forgot all about it.  Well, it did not seem urgent nor was it a matter of life and death. But one day, (maybe a week after I prayed about two book shelves big enough to contain 700 books) I saw suitable pieces in the local furniture shop. Accordingly I called her to tell her so quoting the price. It seemed that money had not come.

Therefore I prayed about the request, being specific about needing $500. My prayer ran like this: O God, I thanked you for remembering dear Monique's childhood dream of having a library. More than granting her the physical number of books, You have seen it fit to bestow upon her a superb collection of spiritual books about yourself and men's walk with you. My estimate of the original cost of the books run into the high end of a 4-digit figure. Surely, you would like to see those lovely books nicely arranged in proper shelves rather than reposed as stacks in the bedroom.

Guess what? The next Sunday during worship I sensed God telling me to give Monique $500. I came home and dug out my "people-in-need" fund and counted $200. Not enough money. I have not had a full time job for twenty five years. The contract teaching post I had in Sabah was a temporary part-time position. I had no tuition students for the past twelve years. Where was I going to come up with the difference? But, sure Lord, if you say so, as soon as that envelope contain $500 I will give it to Monique.

Within a few days, the amount magically reached $500. It reached its rightful owner via May bank to u. How the money came belongs to another story.

Three months after the sum went to Monique, I happily assumed that book shelves had been purchased and books were nicely arranged in alphabetical order. Life is often a lot more complicated than we think. Those 700 books have been moved from bedroom to the lounge. No book shelves in sight. I did not go to visit after I sent the amount. Monique's sister told me the lack of progress. Meanwhile, her(the sister) ex-boss was relocating and offered to give her two gigantic cabinets. As a third sister has only need for one cabinet, Monique asked for and was given the other. Note, now four women are involved. 1. Monique 2. Penny, whose ex-boss gives away cabinets 3. the ex-boss is Mandy 4. Vera, the third sister.

We note that Mandy is a kind person who rewards her former employee. Penny is caring enough to tell Vera and Monique about the cabinets from her former office which are in good condition. Vera is generous enough to pay for the transportation. So far so good, right?

For the good deed of telling her two sisters about the cabinets, Penny has to return to her former office on a Saturday afternoon to supervise loading the items onto a lorry. Vera was happy with her item. But Monique was upset because her cabinet was scratched. In the first place, the cabinets are both rather heavy. Actually it would have been better if there were three workers. But the lorry came with a driver and one attendant.

The moral of the story here is: what happened to the $500? Shouldn't Monique be shouldering half the transportation cost whereby enabling a third worker be hired? Mandy was happy that her office furniture found good homes. Penny was happy that Vera obtained a free cabinet to reduce her children's clutter. Vera, a single mother, had gotten a good bargain through the good offices of Penny.

The odd woman out now is Monique. Why was she not grateful that God cared for her enough to provide money, hard cash, to house her books? When the cabinet was sourced, she did not offer to go along to guide the loading. She actually took advantage of Vera's good will. At the end of the day, she blamed Penny for not making sure her share of the goods are perfect.

Monique has a gift in making friends with those who are generous. One of her benefactress is a Swedish woman who married a Malaysian man. The latter passed on after a heart attack. The Swedish wife was winding up her affairs to join her children in Sweden. She gave his entire collection of books to Monique.

In this story, which is real except a few changes to protect the privacy of the four people involved, I learn that the same person who may be a loyal friend to me could be very different indeed to her own flesh and blood sisters.