Put Me With Whom You Will

I read the other day - I can no longer remember where - something about how strange are the things that make the active mind think deeply.  Wherever it came from, today I endorse its truth.  My title this week was called to mind in just such a moment of deep thought.  It comes from John Wesley's Covenant Prayer, which forms part of an annual service in the Methodist Church, and is also used in other individual congregations across the Christian world, often in an annual setting.  For the benefit of those who may be unaware of this text, I quote it in full at the end of this piece.

I reflected today on the fact that, for the past six weeks or so, I have spent a couple of hours each Friday afternoon in the company of a certain young man who had volunteered to help at the charitable institution where for the last two years and more - Covid permitting - I have spent two days a week.  It was decided that his love of computers could best be utilised working alongside me scanning books and DVDs for sale on line to raise funds for our operation.  

On the first few occasions his father accompanied him.  Having readily understood the brief outline that I have given to all who have been presented to me in that position, dad then explained to his son, in terms he knew would be understood, what was required of him.  He then sat back, ostensibly reading his newspaper, but with his eye constantly on what the young man was doing, nudging him gently back onto the right course if his enthusiasm led him astray.

I don't know what the young man's problem is; suffice to say that his behaviour is not 'normal' (whatever that might mean), and at the outset I was very much discomforted by his strangeness and tended to deal with his father.  I felt uneasy at this, knowing that it followed the classic 'does he take sugar?' example of talking to the pusher of the wheelchair rather than to the person in it.  Gradually, however, I learned by watching and listening to his father how to deal with the situation.  Then came the day when, with due warning, the father was unable to be present.  I was forced to face up to my own reservations and hesitations.  While I admit to being glad that it was only for two hours in the week, for the most part these times have passed without incident.  

The whole concept of two people performing as a team a job that can, with mental co-ordination, be achieved more efficiently by one has upset me right from the start, and I've made no secret of the fact that I prefer to work alone for that reason.  So much depends on each 'partner' understanding the whole process, being aware of what the other is doing, and the pair contriving to work at the same speed so as to achieve a smooth operation.  On occasions I've been partnered with someone with whom this has been the case and harmony was the result; equally, at other times this has clearly not happened and alternative measures have been employed to overcome this problem. 

While musing on these circumstances today, it occurs to me that I have learned from these weekly 'trials'.  First and foremost, I suppose, comes tolerance.  I have accepted someone who is clearly different from me, not just physically - he's about a third of my age and almost a foot taller - but mentally too.  This has been difficult, but I have acknowledged that, since the required standards haven't always been met, I've had to re-plan my afternoon to allow for a time of 'tidying up' once this young man has departed.  I've learned where it was appropriate to offer correction, how much this was successful and, as a result, where I have had to tailor my own strategies in order to accommodate any deficiency in that regard.

Perhaps more importantly, I've been reminded that I'm not the only person in my little world and that I don't always get my own way in life!  While not done exactly the way I would do it, what he has achieved has been just as valuable for the cause as my efforts.  I have been humbled and feel better for it.

Wesley's Covenant Prayer:

“I am no longer my own, but yours.  Put me to what you will, put me with whom you will.  Put me to doing.  Put me to suffering.  Let me be put to work for you, or set aside for you.  Praised for you, or criticized for you.  Let me be full.  Let me be empty.  Let me have all things.  Let me have nothing.  I freely and fully surrender all things to your glory and service.  And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, You are mine and I am yours.  So be it.  And the covenant which I have made on Earth, let it be ratified in Heaven.  Amen.”