Inching Closer to Our Creator

Purple fingernails and the low hum of an oxygen generator....every hum that resonates represents the inching closer to our Creator.....

Such was the scene as I left my parents' house this afternoon.  Just two weeks ago today, Valentine's Day,  we were eating lunch at Cracker Barrel.  Today, when I walked into their home since August 1967 (They bought it in 1963 when Dad was in the Air Force.), the dining table was gone, packed away in a back bedroom.  In its place sat a new hospital bed, replete with lovely eggplant sheets Dad bought yesterday.  We waited for several hours before the ambulance brought my mother home.  She had spent the last week in ICU--at first she had pneumonia and acute kidney injury---now she has heart failure, bedridden with constant oxygen and bed pads.  I stayed an extra two hours through the hospice nurse's visit and all her explanations to my father.  At one point as I looked over at him after she left, he held his hand to his head.  I calmly went over and wrote this verse on a sheet of paper from his legal pad:

"I can do ALL things through Christ, who strengthens me."

I told him I had claimed it as "my" verse several years ago.  I reassured he "can" do this.  See, although hospice is involved, they will come a couple of times a week; *he* is her primary caregiver.  In the last week I have heard him tell several people that years ago, 65 years and 8 months and so many days, they promised to take care of each other as long as they were able.  He is fulfilling that vow.

In the twinkling of an eye one day, Jesus will return; in the twinkling of an eye our lives can irrevocably change. 

Two weeks ago I was eating in Cracker Barrel with my parents; today I was watching purple fingernails and listening to the low hum of an oxygen generator.


Inching closer to our Creator

Reminder

At times I am such a simpleton---truly slow and hard-headed.  I have been going through a very difficult time with a family member in the last year, and the last two months have been particularly trying.  On most days I find myself treading water, barely keeping my head above the deluge that constantly washes over me.  I have begun to claim as my mantra, "Walk by faith, not by sight."  How easy it is to say.  It's more difficult to do.

This morning I was on one of my regular blogs and saw this posting from the owner:  "In what ways am I slow of heart and foolish?
      1.  Letting discouragement bring me down
      2.  Listening to doubts instead of truth
      3.  Forgetting
      4.  Letting my mind wander instead of focusing on Jesus."

I messaged this sweet lady that I believe God meant that for me.  It truly resonated with me.  I should probably have it tattooed onto my brain or forehead.