An Invitation.

My son and daughter in law have been busy building a new summerhouse in their garden. Tonight they have invited My friends Bert and Kate and my wife and me down to join with their neighbours and officially declaring it open. 

An invitation I gratefully accepted. I am sure it will be a very pleasant evening. My son loves entertaining friends and will do his very best to make it an enjoyable evening.

I was thinking of this as I walked yesterday and remembered the eastern tale of the family who discovered three strangers sitting outside their home.

So this invitation leads me to think about what we invite upon ourselves.

A woman came out of her house and saw three old men with long white beards sitting in her front yard. She did not recognize them. She said "I don't think I know you, but you must be hungry. Please come in and have something to eat."

"Is the man of the house home?", they asked. "No", she said. "He's out." "Then we cannot come in", they replied.

In the evening when her husband came home, she told him what had happened. "Go tell them I am home and invite them in!" The woman went out and invited the men in. "We do not go into a House together," they replied. "Why is that?" she wanted to know.

One of the old men explained: "His name is Wealth, " he said pointing to one of his friends, and said pointing to another one, "He is Success, and I am Love." Then he added, "Now go in and discuss with your husband which one of us you want in your home."

The woman went in and told her husband what was said. Her husband was overjoyed. "How nice!!” he said. "Since that is the case, let us invite Wealth. Let him come and fill our home with wealth!"

His wife disagreed. "My dear, why don't we invite Success?" Their daughter was listening from the other corner of the house. She jumped in with her own suggestion: "Would it not be better to invite Love? Our home will then be filled with love!"

"Let us heed our daughters' advice," said the husband to his wife. "Go out and invite Love to be our guest."

The woman went out and asked the three old men, "Which one of you is Love? Please come in and be our guest."

Love got up and started walking toward the house. 

The other two also got up and followed him. Surprised, the lady asked Wealth and Success: "I only invited Love, Why are you coming in?"

The old men replied together: "If you had invited Wealth or Success, the other two of us would've stayed out, but since you invited Love, Wherever He goes, we go with him. Wherever there is Love, there is also Wealth and Success!"

Our wish for you is this. 

Where there is pain, we wish you peace and mercy.

Where there is self-doubting, we wish you a renewed confidence in your ability to work through them.

Where there is tiredness or exhaustion, we wish you understanding, patience, and renewed strength.

Where there is fear, we wish you love and courage. 

Peace to you

And I do not think we can offer anything better to our friends. Than your Love. 

I hope you have a happy day full of love and friendship.