Giving Like Gertrude

"Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality." Romans 12:9-13

Gertrude lives two doors down from us. She is in her nineties. Specifically, she is 94. I think. Or maybe she is 92.  Either way, if I err on the "old" side in relaying her age, she is quick to correct my mistake!

Gertrude may be 92 or 94 or 90, but regardless she sure doesn't act like it. She exercises like a champ riding her stationary bicycle every day, and she cleans like a Merry Maid. Last time I visited her home, she answered the door with rubber gloves on because, she explained, she was in the middle of "scrubbing". I don't wear rubber gloves when I clean, probably because I don't scrub. I tidy, swish and swipe, hence no gloves needed.  

There is a lot I can learn from Gertrude above and beyond acting decades younger than my age, and I think you can too. You see, Gertrude is not only an energetic ball of feisty fire, she is also an ambassador of goodness, and a gem of humanity, particularly for the humans who live on our street.

Gertrude is the giver of smiles, love, cheer and good deeds on Maple Street. She cruises up and down our neighborhood sidewalk all spring, summer and fall sharing the burdens of others in small acts of kindness and hospitality. Never lazy. Never just pretending to be a friend. She is the real deal, Romans 12 in the flesh. Gertrude had been known to pull in the garbage cans of our other neighbor Betty, for example, after the garbage people came by. You see, Betty had a hard time walking up and down the driveway because, after all, she was in her eighties and a housebound widow. So, HA, Gertrude, who is in her nineties and is ALSO a widow, did it for her. Honestly, I used to feel so much conviction and shame when I would see Gertrude come whizzing down the sidewalk dragging in Betty's big, old cans. "Now that should be me," I would think to myself. "Not her. I'm supposed to be the 'Christian' one called by my God to care for the orphans and widows."  I surely do have my fair share of children in need coming in and out of our home all the time, but I certainly could muster a few minutes, and a few of my mid-forties muscles to drag in the trashcans of the widows on my street, now couldn't I?  But Gertrude always beats me to it.

The first time Gertrude came knocking at our door was quite a few years ago when our kids were really small. She was delivering little bags of Halloween treats to our children and to all the other young ones in the neighborhood. It has been her tradition to do this on Halloween day for years and years.

So two years ago, I finally decided to take matters into my own hands with Gertrude and her perpetual goodness, and take time to actively respond with a little more than our normal response which was - "Oh thank you so much Gertrude (kids take the candy bag, we wave goodbye and shut the door)."

My children were getting older, and I wasn't quite so frantically busy (or perhaps not quite so unthoughtful),  so this time I had the children write her thank you notes for the candy. It took all of ten minutes to do this, including the time it took us to walk the thank you notes down to her mailbox. And, of course, Gertrude-style, later that day, the ambassador of thoughtfulness came knocking back AGAIN at OUR door with a thank you note for us, in response to our thank you notes.  Of course.

Then she shared something that made me gasp.

"I have been delivering Halloween candy on the street for 20 years now to the children on the street," Gertrude told me with a smile on her face. "And THIS is the first time I ever got a thank you note."

Gulp. Now half of me was patting myself on the mommy back for being the first mother to have her children do what everyone should have been doing for years to thank precious Gertrude, but the other half was appalled that it had taken ME so long.

Since then, I try to send Gertrude little surprises, flowers, cards, devotional books and whatnot to brighten her day, as she so often brightens mine. And she always thanks us by walking back down to our home a Snack Pack of pudding! I am trying to be more thoughtful and more intentional to love on people ON MY STREET. I know we do a lot all over the place when we speak, travel, educate, write, share, dance ect. ect. ect. ect. (long list here, I know that) BUT, I also know there is plenty of "church" needing to happen right here where I live, and I was dearly reminded of this by my sweet Gertrude.  There's nothing that says "Jesus" like a plate of cookies warm out of the oven given to the people next door in His name, and me of all people should know this because this was indeed what brought me back to relationship with Jesus Christ when I was living the life of a struggling, single mom many years ago (thank you my Betsy).

This past winter has been so very atrocious, as we all know, and I haven't seen much of Gertrude lately. It's been on my mental list of "Things to Do" that I don't always get done, to go check on her. Also on my mental list of "Things to Do" was to feed the construction worker who has been renovating our neighbor's home since September, all by himself with the exception of his dog, in all kinds of snow, ice, wind and sleet. For six months now, he has been sawing, and hauling and freezing pretty much everyday just right outside my kitchen window, and there I am all toasty and cozy washing dishes and making food and watching him, thinking about how much it would NOT be a big deal for me to walk next door and hand him a plate or two of food! Our homes are literally 20 feet away from each other on this street, so construction guy is only 20 feet away, while Gertrude is only about 40 feet away.

Well, just this past Monday, what do you know, here comes Gertrude again skipping down the driveway to deliver good cheer and a plate of something to eat to Mr. Construction guy, and there I was at the kitchen sink being shamed again because I didn't do what I knew I was supposed to do! I couldn't believe it! Sam and I laughed so hard because here I was feeling jealous of the generosity of Gertrude, and being shamed again by her goodness! There was something very wrong with this picture, and perhaps in this situation, I am a hearer of the word, and not a doer of it, when it comes to neighborhood ministry!

So. Yesterday. Not to be competitive. But because I am so very convicted by Gertrude. And her kindness. And I want to be just like her when I grow up. And just like Jesus. So finally. I delivered Mr. Construction man a plate of meatballs just out of the oven, slathered in Sam's homemade tomato sauce. He seemed very surprised and grateful, and I think his dog was too, who sat there staring at me and my meatballs, wagging his stumpy tail.

Tomorrow I will visit Gertrude, and I will read her my story so she knows just how much she means to me and how much I know I can learn from her. And then, I am sure, she will walk me back down a pack or two of pudding and maybe a story or two of her own.

I encourage all of us to be inspired by people like Gertrude and do something kind for the person next door and do it today, lest I would not be surprised to learn, that Gertrude beat you to it!