Long Shadows #1

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Things

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Flowers #1

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Our Home #1

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long shadows2

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LOVE LIKE THAT

 LOVE LIKE THAT

 "Who was the elderly lady that gave me a special hug Wednesday evening after church?" I asked my new friend Beth.

   "Oh", she smiled, "that had to be Claire. She has the beginnings of Alzheimer’s" she added, almost, it seemed to me by way of apology. "That's just what Claire does."

   My initial response had been to say " Oh, that's too bad',  but I caught myself because I remembered the gentle genuine love I felt from Claire through that welcoming hug.

 

   Beth moved off to another duty and I stood there that Sunday morning amid the same group of people as they mingled in fellowship.

   I was happily holding up the south wall of the Fellowship Hall, content with my people watching and musings

   You see, I had just  joined this little church, and after years of walking basically unseen in a large congregation, I was overwhelmed by the attention, the hugs, the welcomes I received here.

   I was also wondering if this was really the place I belonged. Had I made a mistake? Would I still shy away from this small group as I did the huge crowds? I remember I was just about to escape for the solitude of home that evening when just two steps from the door to safety, I was surprised and warmed by Claire’s hug.

I stood there watching the small crowd of closely knit church members that morning,  my musings were interrupted by the sight of two heads in communication, one grey and one black.

There in the middle of the lunch bustle, stood Claire and little Isaac and just as I suspected, two worn, warm hands gently cradled his little face, and she planted on that chubby young face a tender kiss, just as she had on my chubby old one.

  He smiled and let her wrap him in a grandmothers embrace and off he raced, a more confident, more happy boy.

   And Claire beamed.

   I suddenly felt tears in my eyes and recognized a warm kinship with Isaac for we share a secret.

 I have seen similar exchanges between my Mom who lives in an Alzheimer’s haze, and the unsuspecting residents in the Home where she floats in her confusion.  At first I was a bit embarrassed by her just as Beth was with Claire.  There she was, in all her motherliness, hugging and communicating with Miss Margie as if she were her long lost bosom friend.  I had attempted to distract her with some made up task, only to be ignored again, for her task of greeting and comforting Miss Margie was the most important business in the world to her and she would not be deterred.

The psalmist wrote:

"And even when I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me, Until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to all who are to come."

 I am comforted to consider that when "the embarrassing ones" were younger and not yet in the dark journey, they may have prayed much like David did.   I know I do, the more as the years pass.

   I can imagine Mom and Dad, in the privacy of their time with God, praying something like this.

" O God, You have been my refuge and strength from my youth. When I am old and grey-headed do not leave me alone. If I ever come to the valley of senility, let me still be a glory to you, of use to you. 

Let me find a way to tell of your strength and power to save and sustain even when I can no longer remember names or where I live or who I am.  

Maybe God, I could just love and encourage others like you have loved and encouraged me. Maybe I could just touch a face with these warm, worn hands, and look into someone’s eyes with your safe and real love. Would you O God, even then, let me tell someone, with a warm embrace that you love them."

And this is the secret I know;  That God answers those prayers.

    So when I see the ‘embarrassing ones’ reach out the next time I will smile and be proud.

     Just as I see my Daddy’s face glow with pride as he watches Mommy share that kind of love with her neighbors,  I believe that Our Fathers face glows when His unselfish, unfeigned love is shared.

I am praying;  “God, conform me, renew me, let me forget myself now, so that I won’t have to wait until some devastating disease tears away my reserve before I am able to love like that!”

    For those of us who painfully watch our aging loved ones go through that hazy valley, we should be able to take some comfort to realize that there is a bright resting spot in the dark journey.

 I think it is that prayers are not forgotten, the old hymns still can be sung and they are still able to love. Not always…but they are still able to love.

   Thank you Claire that Isaac and I could run off more confident and more loved because of love like that.

   And Mom and Dad, for all the ‘worm and worn hand moments’ I thank you.

I promise you that as much as it is in my power to do, I will help facilitate you sharing that kind of love with others for as long as you live.

PS…A few captured moments of Love Like That….how I wish I had more.