Love “…seeketh not her own” I Cor 13:5

Sister Pat loves to quilt and anything that has the word quilt or quilting in it will catch her eye. So it wasn’t a complete surprise when Sister Pat announced that we were going on a road tour of the Quilt Gardens while on vacation. Because northeastern Indiana has a large population of Amish, the road trip was sprinkled with a large dash of black buggies and some super eating places. The gardens were neat, each one designed after a quilt pattern; but after the first few, I was ready to return home and maybe take a dip in the swimming pool. Of course, that didn’t happen.

Since I know that Pastor Jim’s idea of fun isn’t running around looking at different quilt patterns, I asked Pastor Jim why he was pampering Sister Pat so much on this vacation. Pastor Jim explained that love and marriage is not about seeking your own needs but about seeking the needs of your mate. He explained that being a pastor meant that often his time was spent meeting the needs of others and that he always devotes a lot of his vacation time to meeting only the needs of his wife. He said that makes for a happy mommy bear and happy mommy bears make for happy daddy bears.

I guess he knows what he is doing because Pat sure is a happy bear. Still, I became very tire of sitting in the gardens and fell asleep several times in the car as Sister Pat went into detail about each quilt pattern and every flower that was used. Pastor Jim just smiled and listened carefully as he drove to the next quilt garden. And, that is the Bear Truth.