On the last day of my recent holiday I mentioned to my wife that the young girl who came round each day to collect the sunbed fee had not collected it from me today.

There was an element of me which thought, their loss, but I knew that would not do and so I said to my wife “what shall I do?”

Her reply: “Go over and pay it of course!”

We went over, but the young girl had left and in her place was a young life guard who took my money and said he would make sure that he gave it to her tomorrow.

As I walked away, I felt quite agitated and I said to my wife “that young lad will not give that money to her tomorrow, I am quite sure of it”

My wife says, “what is it to you, if he does or he does not pay it over we have been honest?”

“well I feel like I’ve been ripped off”, I said

To which she replies “we have had a service and we have paid for that service – we have done the right thing and that is an end to it – whether he pays it over or not is down to him and his conscience not ours”

Her response reminded me of Luke v 9, 10: in which Jesus says:-

“Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do“

It’s hard being married to a saint and a protestant one at that!

My next blog will be:   Katharine Worsley

William Defoe