A Heart Devoted to God

But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.

LUKE 10:42

  I had done it thousands of times before, but two days ago it was different. I’m talking about the walk I take each day in the dewy part of the morning. As I moved through my neighborhood I noticed a woman—probably in her late seventies—walking on the sidewalk by the park. She had an aluminum walker and appeared to have suffered a stroke. She was also a little bent over, a telltale sign of osteoporosis. What made this outing different for me? Well, just three days earlier we had buried my husband’s mother. Lois was in her late seventies when God called herb home to be with Him…and Lois had used an aluminum walker… and Lois had suffered from osteoporosis…and Lois too had experienced a slight stroke. Still grieving over our recent loss, I was a little down even before I spotted this woman who so reminded me of Lois. I had already used the few tissues I had taken with me. And my heart and mind were filled with thoughts like What will we do for Thanksgiving? We always had Thanksgiving at Lois’s. She always fixed the turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, and homemade pies. What will a family gathering be like without her? On and on my thoughts went. She won’t be in her regular seat at church Sunday….I no longer have any reason to take the freeway exit thatthat leads to her house. Besides, it is no longer her house.…Now who was praying for us?

  How will the loss of her prayer power affect all of us— Jim’s ministry, my ministry, the girls’ lives, this book? As I watched that dear, brave woman struggling to walk and remembered Lois’s battle with cancer and pneumonia at the end of her life, I realized I was taking a hard look at reality. Every one of us has a body that will someday fail us—and that someday is not necessarily too far off. I was also sharply reminded once again of how desperately I want my life—indeed each and every day of it, each and every minute of it—to count. Yet as I took in this scene and thought these thoughts, I was aware that my fiftieth birthday had come—and gone. My thirtieth wedding anniversary had done the same. And my two little babies had graduated from life at home to life in their own homes with husbands to love and babies of their own to consider. I was running out of time!