We Can Figure It Out

Sometime, yes sometimes, we don’t have the words to say. I had it happen just recently as I visited a bed ridden elderly lady. For more years then we want to count, she has laid there without much of a complaint. Most visits are not too long. A good number of times we just chat and talk about this that and the other and finished our time singing with abandonment many of the hymns of both our youths.
In recent time, she has shared with me about her stomach pain. Now we know it’s not good and has continued to progress. My previous visit didn’t last more then five minutes. She was no mood for a visit. After just a few moments she told me she didn’t want a visit at all. I though I would end with the singing of one of her favorite hymns but that didn’t change things, “I’m not in much of a mood to sing today either.”
Recently I returned to try again to have a visit. This time she was more cordial. She still had a little pain, but not as severe. At least she was comfortable and her new medications were working. She was glad to see me, and vaguely remembered my last visit. We talked a little about just regular stuff. At what I thought was the right moment, I shared with her the Advent we were celebrating at the church and the things I was sharing with all those who came to worship. Lying there, unable to see, but remembering voices, she listened to all that I described. The sights, the sounds and yes, the smell of fresh backed oatmeal cookies brought a smile to her face.
Almost on key, when I finished, she grimiest with some pain. I quietly waited for the pain to subsided. At that point she prayed for the Lord to take away the pain and to be with her two brothers as well. Prayer ended, she quietly informed me, “my two brothers have cancer to.” What more could I say but sorry. She broke the silence by asking me a favour. “Could you sing a hymn for me? Could you sing, ‘Jesus, Loves Me?” I quietly started to sing;
Jesus loves me! this I know,
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to Him belong;
They are weak but He is strong.
When I finished the chorus, she smiled and said, “I always sing - for MY Bible tells me so.”
So true. Christmas is a time of love. A time when we all remember God’s gift of love to each and every one of us. A time when we recognize the words in our Bibles that tell us, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
At Christmas it is our purpose to tell the world that God in Christ loves everyone. Then we can show the world by loving them back and loving one another.
Yes, I stayed a little longer. Now I’ll let you figure out a way to do the same.
Something to think about.
RB