Watering the World

"It's time to water the mailman," I said.

The woman standing in line with me at the supermarket pretended not to hear me. When I turned toward her, she nervously looked at me out of the corner of her eye.

I smiled. "I do it every year," I said. She smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "That's why I'm buying this case of bottled water," I said.

"That's nice," she replied warily.

I was next in line, so I paid for my items and said to the clerk, "This is for my mailman."

"I'm sure he'll appreciate it. It's going to get really hot this week," she said.

As I walked away I paused for a moment to readjust my grip on the case of water. I could hear the woman say, "Is he crazy? He wants to water his mailman?"

The clerk, who knows me very well from shopping there almost daily, began to explain, "He does this every year. He puts a few bottles out on his porch in ice every day when the weather gets hot. He tells me the mailman loves it."

"Oh, that's what he meant,” she said. I continued out the door and headed home.

I thought about it for a while. I know why I do it. I do it because I appreciate him...rain, snow, sleet, heat, whatever...he delivers.

Watering the mailman. Actually, it’s a good analogy. I take care of him. I add to his day. In turn, I have gained a friend. I think we need to do that in our relationships. We need to tend to those people who bring something special to our lives. We need to appreciate the things we take for granted.

Continued on page 2: Watering the coal man... »