When Love's at Work Read Free Page B

like a picture from House Beautiful
magazine, but guests and family members never hesitated to kick
their shoes off and put their feet on the coffee table.
    Purity looked up at her ceiling fan. Was
that dirt? She peered closer. It was disgusting. Pure knew once she
began cleaning she wouldn’t be able to stop with the ceiling fan.
Three hours later, her home was clean, organized and Pure felt the
lightness in her body that always came when her surroundings
weren’t full of clutter and chaos.
    After a quick shower, Pure chose white
shorts and a pink tank top as her attire for the day. She pulled
her hair back into a ponytail and secured it with a thick stretchy
burgundy band.
    E-mail could no longer be
put off so she logged onto the internet. She opened Meg’s e-mail
first: Hey P, so glad the fundraiser went
well. I knew it would. I’ll see you a bit after 2pm today. I signed
up to help clean-up after the senior dinner at church, so I’ll be a
few minutes late. Did you hear that Emily Cravens is in the
hospital? Apparently she fell on her back porch when she was
heading out to water her roses. She couldn’t get up and no one
found her for two days! Can you imagine? Ack! When I get older, I’m
getting one of those things you wear around your neck and you just
press the button if you need help. Anywho… see you later on.
XOXO.
    Poor Emily. Mrs. Cravens refused to move
into an assisted living environment, even though she really
shouldn’t be living alone in that big old house any more. Her
husband had a heart attack and died three years ago. He was the
love of Emily’s life. If it hadn’t been for the ladies of the
church, Pure didn’t think Emily would have made it through that
challenging time.
    The church women had made sure Emily had
activities to participate in and women who were ready and willing
to listen, should she feel like talking. They also made sure to
check in on her every other day or so. Pure wondered how people who
didn’t have a church family got through times like that. What did
people do without committed friends or family to help out and
without God to lean on for strength?
    That was such a great example of the church
at its best, offering support and love and hope. Too bad all the
other crap went with it, too. She’d seen more than her share of
hypocritical and judgmental behavior by church members. That was
the part that turned Purity off about organized religion. Why they
thought they were better than anyone else was beyond her.
    There was just as much infidelity, child
abuse, substance abuse, and lying among “religious” people as
anyone else. The whole idea that this group of people was somehow
immune and set apart from the rest of the world was such a
misnomer. It totally set up an “us” versus “them” mentality that
Pure abhorred. We, she thought to herself, it’s all about we --
working together, building one another up, being guided along by a
loving, caring Creator who has our very best interest at heart. Why
was that so hard for people to understand?
    She deleted Meg’s e-mail and began opening
the work-related messages. An hour later, she logged off the
internet, satisfied that everyone’s questions had been answered and
their needs had been met.
    Pure spent the next hour straightening out
the items in her briefcase and making a to-do list for Monday
morning. She was just closing her briefcase when she heard a knock
on the door and Courtney’s voice.
    “ It’s me, and Ben and
Jerry.”
    Pure made her way to the door easily, now
that there was a clear path. and welcomed her friend, eyeing the
large Diet Coke from McDonalds in Court’s hand.
    “ I so hope that is for
me.”
    “ It is. You know I hate
that diet crap.” Court handed the Diet Coke to Purity and then gave
her a kiss on the cheek.
    “ What happened in here?!”
Courtney exclaimed, surveying the clean apartment. “The last time I
was here I almost wanted to start cleaning the joint
myself.”
    “ It