When I Was Crowned “Prince Of Muffins”

TheDiscipleMD

A few years ago my sons and I helped a poor elderly woman and her bed-stricken daughter move from one apartment to another. She was a patient of my wife, who is a home health care nurse.  Since that time, this woman has talked often about the service that we gave to her. She had no one to help her, and was so happy that my wife “volunteered” her sons and husband. Since then, this kind woman has given muffins to my wife almost every time she stops in to see her, which is often. My wife made the mistake of telling her that we love them, which is true. This elderly woman now goes down to the local Costco, and buys muffins by the bulk. Several weeks ago she bought 60 muffins and gave them to us. We barely had room to freeze them. No sooner do we get low on the muffins, then my wife comes home with a new batch. If I don’t eat at least a muffin a day they will soon overwhelm our freezer. I feel they have become like “Tribbles”, the fictional small, soft ,and gentle animal that appeared in numerous Star Trek episodes. The “Tribbles” multiplied so quickly that they soon endangered the Starship Enterprise. This past week my wife received a phone call every day from this patient wanting to know if I am enjoying the muffins and which are my favorites so she can buy more of them. She has now dubbed my wife and I “The Prince and Princess of Muffins.”

Once while my wife and I were in the car shopping this patient called. After a twenty-minute conversation that centered entirely around how many muffins we were eating, what types were the tastiest, and how many more this patient was going to buy that week, my wife told her she had to go. After she hung up she smiled at me and called me “Prince Muffin.”  I certainly enjoy the muffins, as does my wife. We have been tempted to tell this kind lady that we can get the muffins as we too are members of a wholesale food company. Yet, we hesitate to do so because it is clear that this patient loves buying, talking about, and giving us these muffins. The reality is that this woman and her daughter, who is bedridden, derive great joy in serving us. They can’t do much under their circumstances, but what they can do, is show their love to an empathetic nurse and her husband by giving them muffins. I am humbled by their service! And although my wife and I can afford to buy muffins, somehow when I eat the ones given to us by these kind women, I more enjoy and savor the taste,  because love has a special flavor of its own.

Spencer Kimball counseled us:

“I know (a) man who has never given thought to himself. His every desire was for the protection and pleasure of those about him. No task was too great, no sacrifice too much for him to make for his fellowmen. His means brought relief from physical suffering; his kind work and thoughtfulness brought comfort and cheer and courage. Wherever people were in distress, he was on hand, cheering the discouraged, burying the dead, comforting the bereaved, and proving himself a friend in need. His time, his means, and his energies were lavished upon those needing assistance. Having given himself freely, by that same act he has added to his mental, physical, and moral stature until today he stands in his declining years a power for good, an example and an inspiration to many. He has developed and grown until he is everywhere acclaimed, loved, and appreciated. He has given life and in a real way has truly found the abundant life. There is great security in spirituality, and we cannot have spirituality without service!  (Chapter 8: Selfless Service,” Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Spencer W. Kimball, (2006), 79–88. (“The Disciple, #124, Oct. 7, 2007)

Like the man above who spent a lifetime serving others,  this woman and her daughter stand as an inspiration and an example to me of how one can serve, even in the hardest of circumstances.  Indeed, they have taught me that serving has no bounds and does not discriminate.   All of us can serve our fellowman, regardless of our station in life.

I am happy,  humbled, and feel honored to be dubbed “The Prince of Muffins” by these Christian women, and humbly accept offerings from them,  who I consider “Queens” of King!

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