When I woke up, it was with just enough time to feed the dog, throw my hair up, and leave. I got downstairs and went to let Piper out of her cage when I noticed a pile of puke right outside of her cage. I spent the next 15 minutes cleaning the cage, the dog, and her blanket. I knew I was going to be pretty late now that I had to monitor the dog after she ate. I changed plans and decided to hang back, get ready, and go into the office before my fingerprinting appointment.
Just before I walked over to the church I got an email from our lovely secretary informing me that a member had fallen and a home visit might be a good idea. So with my senior pastor out of town, I made the call to make sure it would be a good time to visit. After getting a few things done at work quickly, I headed out to do a home visit.
The couple I went to see have been members at the church for a long time. They are both 86 years old and they were very grateful for the visit. As I made my way to their house I prayed for God's help. Older people are somehow scary to me. Not creepy scary, but fragile scary. In general, I don't love hanging out with old people, especially sick old people. This may sound extremely cold hearted and harsh... it's not that I don't value their lives; it's that I've seen too much death, first hand. Death is something I'll never get accustomed to dealing with.
So anyways, I arrived and was warmly welcomed into their home. We sat in the front room and I listened as they explained how the wife had fallen. They then proceeded to go into the details all of their medical ailments. This did not put me at ease at all. It took all I had to stay focused and do my best to listen well and just be as comforting as possible. It was very interesting listening to them speak... along with their great wisdom was the knowledge that at this point in their lives they are waiting to "go". I had never heard anyone speak so freely and matter-of-fact like about life that way. Most people will avoid talking about waiting for death (the obvious). This did put me at ease because their comfort with it was so peaceful. They had not stopped living because they knew that there time is getting shorter. Instead they point everything that they are to God. There was so much beauty and comfort in their words and attitudes. I went there to be a comfort to them, instead they were a comfort to me.
The conversation topic eventually left health issues and arrived abruptly at tattoos. The husband began complaining about so many of the young people at the Olympics having tattoos. I simply listened for a while before revealing that I have 8 of them myself. They were shocked to find that out as all of my tattoos were covered except for my wrist which they had clearly not seen. I explained my reasoning for my tattoos and I even gave my opinion on the popularity of them. It was a fun way to end the hour and a half long visit. I'm not sure that we reached any kind of understanding, but it didn't cause any discord as far as I could tell. I learned quite a lot.
Despite failing physical bodies and sometimes failing minds, you can't take away their experiences. God is so creative in the way that He designed both life and death. How intricately perfect!
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