Pay Back

As a young child I was always the gullible naive one in my family.  My sister was the wheeler-and-dealer.  She was a penny pincher, and I don't mean that lightly.  She could "sell ice cubes to an eskimo"!  She was a hoarder and a stasher of gum, candy, time and of course, money.  You could literally hear the pennies scream for their lives when she pinched them! 

When I would ask if I could have some of her chips, she would take one chip and smash it and then put the crumbs in my hand saying "okay, here's some!" When her son did the same thing to her without coersion, you bet I laughed uncontrollably and told her how much she deserved it! Kids truly are life's way of Pay Back!  Haha! When I would ask if I could have some gum, she might give me one fourth of a stick.  We used to take turns doing the dishes as kids and we would each have two nights of the week to do them.  Megan would con me into doing hers for maybe ten cents, or something.  She would also fool me with the clock.  She would say "okay we are going to take turns doing my dishes, you do them for 10 minutes, and I 'll do them for 10 minutes".  Then she would mess with the clock so I  thought I was only there 10 minutes, but I was really there for 20 or 25.  It's no wonder I don't like board games because she would always cheat!  I always had to hide my Easter candy because she would raid it when I wasn't around or try and trade me all her crappy candy for the good stuff.

Did I mention she was a hoarder of time?  Ah yes, even time she would stash away if she could.  She would sleep in her clothes so she would not have to get dressed in the morning!  She would sleep on top of the bed covers so she would not have to make the bed in the morning!  I recall her using her dishwasher as a clothing washer when her washer broke down to avoid driving over to our parents' house to use their washer.  She was really pinching the pennies here because our parents lived less than 5 miles away, it's not like it was going to take a tank of gas to drive over there!  Well, there did come a day when her skills paid off in a big way for both me and her!

In my early college years I would drive to Las Vegas, NV to visit my sister often.  She had two boys at the time and I spent many of my vacations with them.  One time I was down there, Megan needed to go buy a new car.  I went along as the "built-in babysitter".  I was given the task of making sure the two boys did not destroy the place!  We went first thing in the morning to Dodgeland USA, where we met our salesman, a very large, tall, nice looking, but intimidating, Black man.  Little did he know that the petite, freckled brunette was going to be his brick wall for the day instead of the speed bump she might have resembled!  She had a mission, to get the exact car she wanted for what SHE thought was a good deal!  For 12 hours, no kidding, no exaggeration, 12 hours she argued with our salesman and the manager about what a "Smokin Deal" was!  That is what the salesman called it!  She wanted the brand new, 2008 Navy Blue, Dodge Avenger for her price, not theirs!  I heard them go the rounds for 12 hours sometimes even hearing the salesman screaming at my sister, it was crazy!

My sister had her husband on the phone.  She would quote their offers to him and quickly reply "no deal"!  Over and over again!  It was almost like being at an auction where the auctioneer lost control of his own auction.  I think I was ready to admit myself to the "looney bin" by the time we were done.  All day I was thinking, "okay, this time they are going to let her walk out without a deal", but no, they didn't!  Why? Good question!  I guess they were desperate to sell this miser a car!  Haha!  Maybe they loved a challenge, but I think at the end of the day, the salesman might have wanted to quit his job!  When they finally agreed to a price and we muddled through all of the paper work.  The car she wanted was not on their lot, it came straight from the factory all wrapped up and everything.  They had to drive it in from Henderson and when it arrived, we found out that my sister had truly conquered by getting extra features on the car that the dealership did not know about.  It probably amounted to about $7500 more in value, with a sun roof, leather interior, and satellite radio.  As a joke, she was going to ask the salesman "where's the spoiler?" when we went to pick it up, but she didn't, I guess she thought she put them through enough!

About a year later I was ready to buy a new car and I thought I don't think I want to go without Megan!  I went down to Vegas and when we showed up to the same dealership and I told them exactly what I wanted, which of course was approved by Megan, they did not hesitate to give it to me!  We had no arguments, nothing, we were in and out in a few hours.  When my car salesman accidentally backed my car into a pole on the way to be detailed, my sister decided we better go buy him some treats to make him feel better.  It was pretty embarrassing for him and I'm guessing it turned out to be a pretty bad day.  Megan had brought more customers to them over the years and even bought another used car from them, paying cash.  Giving her what she wanted resulted in her paying them back!

 This story has had me thinking and brought another story to the surface of my memory.  An object lesson I remember from seminary.  In talking about how Heavenly Father works and how blessings come about, the Oreo lesson came about.  When the teacher handed an Oreo to a student and asked "do you want this cookie?" the student replied "Yes, Thank You" and the teacher proceeded to give the student 2 more cookies.  The student, not knowing exactly how to react, said "Thank you" again and the teacher gave the student 3 more cookies.  The student then offered a cookie to some of the other students and the teacher, in return gave the student 5 more cookies.  This continued until the teacher started pulling out whole packages of Oreos and giving them to the student.  This illustrated that when we ask for or recognize a blessing with humility and gratitude, we are given more.  When we do Heavenly Father's will we receive blessings.

Two of my favorite scriptures:
"I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say, but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise".-D&C 82:10   
"There is a law irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world upon which all blessings are predicated- And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated."- D&C 130:20-21

The dealership wanted to sell a car, but in order for them to sell that car they had to agree to my sister's terms.  They could have let her leave, but they promised that she would leave happy with a car she wanted!  Yes they put in a full day's worth of work on her alone and it was hard and frustrating, but in the end it was probably worth it!  In return she brought them more business and bought more cars.  I have discovered that this is kind of how my sister works.  When I went crazy entertaining 2 little boys for 12 hours, my pay back came in the form of my sister's presence and wisdom at the dealership ready for another 12 hour fight if necessary.  You have to concede to her terms or meet her half way at least and you won't be disappointed.  Sometimes the pay back can be 10 times more than what you have put in.  Isn't that how relationships work sometimes?   This is just like our lives, we want a blessing, maybe something specific, but we have to keep our end of the bargain.  When we concede to God's will or meet Him half way, we won't be disappointed.  Heavenly Father will always pay back more than we could ever give.  We will always be indebted.  Heavenly Father is bound by his promises, He has to bless us when we keep commandments, covenants and do his will.

Empower yourself by keeping your promises!  Have gratitude and don't be afraid to seek and ask for blessings!