Stories

Wednesday of this week was the day for my bi-weekly pet therapy visit at the nursing home with my dog, Misty.  We visited a man for the first time that day who was probably in his 90’s.  We discussed the photos on his bureau of the family – his wife, daughter, son, and even a picture of himself in his WWII uniform when he was in his 20’s.  What a handsome soldier he was.  As I left his room, I was struck by all the life-stories.  A few minutes discussing family photos don’t even scratch the surface of the wonderful things I could learn from this one man’s life. 

I wonder if we pay enough attention to the wisdom available to us from our older generations.  Many of the people I encounter on these visits are not able to carry on lengthy conversations but there have been a few occasions when I’ve been able to sit and stay a while with a particular patient – laugh with them at their experiences, be surprised by the tales they tell, and sometimes be incredibly blessed by a prayer they pray for me.  What a blessing and what a gift!  I treasure the times I am able to listen, share and be blessed and enriched by their wisdom and their life. 

Imagine what it must have been like to walk the countryside with Jesus – to hear his stories, to be part of the new family of believers that was being formed – part of a new story!   Do I read the Scriptures with that in mind?  Do I enter into the story as fully as I should?  Or do I just read the passages on a more intellectual level?  Each one of those men and women who walked with Jesus had their own experience with our Lord and their own story - that of a life lived apart from Jesus and alongside Jesus.  I have that story, too, and I much prefer the latter!  I hope that my life is inviting someone to want to know my story and to know the Author of that story.

Life with Jesus is an adventure.  It can often feel like setting out on a road trip with only part of the map but knowing that your Guide will see you safely to the destination if you let him.  As I think about the elderly and infirmed men and women I meet and wonder what stories are left untold, what mark their lives are leaving as they approach their “destination”, I can’t help but reflect on my own.  I pray that the people I encounter - those divine appointments – are somehow, on some level, making a difference; not on a grand and glorious scale but something that matters and in some way points to Jesus. 

LET IT BE SAID OF US

by Steve Fry

Let it be said of us that the Lord was our passion,
That with gladness we bore every cross we were given;
That we fought the good fight, and we finished the course;
Knowing within us the power of the risen Lord.

CHORUS:
Let the cross be our glory and the Lord be our song!
By mercy made holy, by the Spirit made strong.
Let the cross be our glory and the Lord be our song!
Till the likeness of Jesus be through us made known.
Let the cross be our glory and the Lord be our song.

Let it be said of us, we were marked by forgiveness;
We were known by our love and delighted in mercy;
We were ruled by His peace, heeding unity’s call,
Joined as one body that Christ would be seen by all