For almost a year, I have been committed to living as the parable of the Good Samaritan teaches. Each week, I am surprised at yet another lesson that these seven verses (Luke 10:30-37) have ready for me. Each week, as I try to live these verses, I am humbled and taught by the Lord.
The Innkeeper
“And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
“And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.
This week, my heart is filled with gratitude to my Lord and Savior for His goodness to me. As in all things, the Savior is our perfect example of righteous living. Jesus Christ is the Good Samaritan.
These past couple of weeks, I have been the inn keeper. The Savior has entrusted a dear friend to my care and said to me, “Take care of her; and whatever resource you spend, I will repay you.”
“But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,Friday, I slept in, tired from another late night. I had been trying to catch up on housework, my church responsibilities, readying our family for vacation, and a husband (again) out-of-town for work. I quickly readied my youngest for her swim team practice and we headed out, her munching on a Belvita for a belated breakfast-on-the-go!
I’d have time in the afternoon to catch up on the list of things to do that I’d missed by oversleeping.
Or not.
A new emergency
As swim practice wrapped up, my phone rang. . Sophia desperately needed to get a few groceries! Everyone had very thoughtfully been bringing by dinners and her fridge was full of baked ziti. However, her toilet paper was gone and her husband refused to shower using her Bath and Body Works soap. 
He claimed it would diminish his manhood to smell like fruit. The friend she had already lined up to come and sit with Anita had been called into work and could not come.
As I kicked off my shoes upon arriving at Sophia’s, she caught me up on how Anita had been doing. Anita had a rough night and was feeling a bit down because she was realizing that her entire summer’s vacation plans were now cancelled because of this accident.
I sat down in the dark bedroom to visit with Anita while Sophia jumped in the shower before heading out. We chatted about her recovery and about this and that. Before long, we were laughing and she was sharing with me her determination to salvage something of her summer.
Sophia returned a couple hours later and I headed out to take care of my own household’s needs. My day had already been behind schedule because I opted to sleep in, now I was even more behind!
Repaid by the Lord
I came home to a house that my son had cleaned. Not only had he washed the dishes, but he had vacuumed, dusted, and even run a load of laundry! The errands that usually take an hour or more took less than half an hour. The tasks that usually would have taken all afternoon were done before dinner. I even found I had time to curl up with a book for a few moments!
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Over the last couple of weeks, as I have served, I have time and again seen how the Lord repays me. I have spent hours in traffic traveling to and from Philadelphia to visit my friend in the hospital. This is not only a drain on my time, but also on my patience, as I hate sitting in traffic! Instead of feeling my normal stress, I found I felt peace and even gratitude for the moments of time alone to meditate and think.
How grateful I am to a loving Father in Heaven who so amply recompenses us when we serve those He places in our care. Not only are my resources repaid, but I discover new resources of spiritual strength and renewal that I did not have before the service was rendered.
Growing up all over the world gave Emlee Taylor an opportunity to see the incredible differences the Lord created in humanity; and even better, the passions we all share as members of the human race: love for family, faith, & a desire to make a difference.
Emlee lives life with passion—focusing her time now on raising four children and teaching them to recognize truth and to live true to that truth, regardless of others’ expectations. Emlee is passionately in love with her bestest friend and husband of more than 20 years.
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