God's Voice

I chose this day to contribute to the Lenten Devotional because it's my mother's birthday. This is a woman who sits today in the Sunrise Assisted Living Residence. This is a woman who raised five children, four of them boys; who followed a Marine around the globe for 48 years; who decided to go back to work at age 45 and ended up as manager of a large savings & loan in no time flat. This is a woman who recently saw her husband go before her, and within less than a year, watched her second oldest son go before her as well.

And now she sits in a wheelchair and hopes her "good hand" won't give out on her. She wonders where in the world this multiple sclerosis came from. Her daily concerns are things we don't think twice about in our daily routine. "Why am I still here? What purpose do I serve?" She asks. I've even heard from her lips, "I'm not good for anything," - this woman who has been through it all and has survived.

Oh, if she would only realize.

My mom is here for all those who know her and whose daily lives are touched by her. One of those people is me. She is here for all those people who "do" for her. Her purpose is not how to fix our lives or even to make us all smile, though she still knows how to do that well. She is here because God wants us to learn from her and through her - from her strength as she does His will. It is not only through happiness and sunlight that God speaks.

Remember this when times get rough and you are faced with hardship. And if you are reading this, Mom, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

— Anonymous

Courtesy of The Church of the Good Shepherd United Methodist