December 15
Seeing Christ in the Nursing Home
For this reason I bow my knees … That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:14,17,18,19 (NKJV)
On one cold fall day, John and his wife were going to be moved out of their homestead and into a nursing home. Instead, both were found dead in the old white farmhouse. John wasn’t going to go, and he made sure by shooting his wife in the head then turning the deer rifle on himself.
It shocked me, and I was especially sad because John was a long-time friend of my father’s. It was hard to believe, but in John’s mind, life was no longer worth living. Contrast this heartbreaking story with one that touched my heart just yesterday.
Pastor Ortberg shares the experience of his friend Tom—back when Tom was a seminary student and spent time visiting nursing homes. Ortberg says the first time Tom saw Mabel she sat strapped to a wheelchair—the blank look on her face revealed her blindness while the large hearing aid dangling over her ear indicated she was hard of hearing as well. Sadly, her cancer-ravaged face turned people’s eyes away.
It was Mother’s Day when Tom met her. He had brought a flower to give to a convalescent mom, and when Tom handed Mabel the flower, she responded with something like, “Thank you for the beautiful flower, but I’m blind. Do you mind if I give it someone else?”
Tom then wheeled her down the corridor, and she offered the flower to another person. “Here. This is from Jesus,” she said.
Mabel was 89-years old and she had been there—bedridden, blind, deaf and alone—for 25 years, and yet, there was not a day that went by that didn’t find her thanking God for life … and for love.
More and more, Tom was amazed at the incredible spirit of this ailing saint. He would read her passages and she would finish them. The words of the Bible deeply saturated her soul. At one point Tom asked, “Mabel, what do you do when you lie here all day long?”
“I think about my Jesus.”
“Well, what do you think about Jesus?”
Mostly I think about how good He has been to me.”
She then started singing the words to the old hymn, Jesus is All the World to Me:
Jesus is all the world to me,
My life, my joy, my all.
He is my strength
From day to day,
Without Him I would fall.
When I am sad to Him I go,
No other one can cheer me so.
When I am sad
He makes me glad.
He’s my friend.
I don’t mean to judge, but what a contrast between John and Mabel. For most people on earth, life is all about them, but for a few life is all about Jesus. Truly, these people are transformed. You see, Jesus does make a difference, but only when He finds a home in our hearts.
Father, help us age gracefully … with Christ! Amen.