Full of Happy

Sometimes the world is so full of happy that you could float on it. I got a call from my son, Matt, who had just interviewed for a summer internship that he is very hopeful he will get. However, while the interview went well, that is not why he called. He called to tell me that he had just received word that he had won first place in a Law school national ethics paper contest. First place. He gets money and he gets to present his paper publicly. Matt is a dream son- calls often, texts me with news and favorite songs, hugs me unashamedly, comes home with his bride for holidays....When I get to feeling sorry for myself, I just look at my son Matt. He works so hard and yet, he doesn't seem to catch a lot of breaks...though he did catch the world's best daughter-in-law for me. But this time, he got the gold ring. I just could not be happier.

I collected our old senior friends Comer and Evelyn from the Alzheimer unit, and told them, "We are going on a drive to see the Bradford Pear. They are in bloom. Remember how beautiful they are in our neighborhood? I want to take you to see them there. Will that be ok?"
I was a little concerned, wondering if seeing their old house would be too traumatic, since they loved that home, next door to my own. They had never wanted to leave it. Evelyn's alzheimer diagnosis and Comer's advanced age and frailty had finally necessitated it.
"Yes," said Comer firmly, "I would really like to see the old house and the Bradford Pear. I've been hoping you would take me there."
So we drove slowly through the old neighborhood, and we all sighed with deep contentment over the boughs of blossom laden Bradford Pear. I stopped in front of Comer's old house.
"They shouldn't have trimmed those trees yet," he said, pointing to the Crepe Myrtle.
"No? Why not?"
"They should trim them in the fall...not right before they bloom."
"Well I will let you know if they end up blooming."
"What is the owner's name again?" he asked.
"Kelly."
"Sure would love to see how she decorated it," he said softly.
"I can ask her if that would be ok, if I see her," I said.
Should I have said that? Oh gosh...who knows? I never had to leave my home...but if I did, I sure would want to be able to say a fond "how are you?" to it now and then....
Evelyn meanwhile, didn't even look at the house. Would she remember it with the onslaught of Alzheimer's sledge hammering her brain?
"Do you like how the house looks, Evelyn?" I asked.
She looked straight ahead.
"Mama, you aren't even looking at it," said Comer, "Looky here."
She turned vacant eyes towards the house. Then they settled on it.
"Oh," she said, smiling.
There did not appear to be longing in her voice like in Comer's, just a moment of tender recognition.

The famous chapter of the heroes of faith, Hebrews 11, speaks of many people of God who longed for something other than what they had. They were human, just like you and me and Comer. They surely felt dismay when the world changed around them in unpleasant ways or when their hopes and dreams were dashed. But they were heroes of faith because they trusted that the better "home" they longed for would one day be theirs. One day, they would grab the gold ring.

As we pulled out of the neighborhood, Comer said, "Well that was a real treat. Things sure do change...."
"That's the one constant," I agreed, "That things will change. I suppose the most content people are those who can roll with the punches."
"You are right about that," said Comer, gripping Evelyn's hand, with its sparkling gold ring twirled about her finger.

Hebrews 11: 8-16
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.


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