Helen lay propped up in her bed. The nurse had just been in to adjust the drip on her intravenous medications. This was Helen’s third trip to the hospital in three weeks and it might be her last. At one 105 years of age, her body was refusing to cooperate while her keen mind was still operating in perfect fashion. Helen could remember just about anything that had transpired in her life.
She had lived through WW1, WW2 and watched many of her friends come and go. Helen had witnessed kings passing and queens being crowned. She had not only ridden in a horse drawn carriage but had also graced the leather seats of a Model T Ford as it rolled off the assembly line. She watched in amazement as man discovered powered flight and gasped with excitement as he stepped onto the moon’s surface.
Helen had lived a full life. She had married three times and been at the bedside of each of those men as they passed on before her. Even now at least one of her children was present in her room around the clock. She had seven children, twenty-four grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.
Several times during her hospital stays a Priest had come to pray and encourage her.
“Hello Helen, it is Father Thomas, do you mind if I sit down and have a presidential visit with you for awhile?” the Priest asked with a warm smile pulling the chair closer to her bedside.
“Oh yes dear, please sit yourself down and have a chat with me. I have been feeling a bit lonely this morning. You know I met both Woodrow Wilson and Calvin Coolidge in the early nineteen twenties!” Helen exclaimed lighting up like a light bulb.
After a short chat and short prayer there was a knock as her oldest granddaughter appeared at the door. Father Thomas introduced himself to her then turning around towards Helen said that he would be back tomorrow to check up on her.
A nurse stopped Father Thomas outside in the hallway and said that Helen was getting weaker. She mentioned that he might want to make time to come back tonight for a short visit. Father Thomas smiled and said, “It would be my pleasure.”
Down the elevator and across the oncology floor Father Thomas peered into the room of a small child who had cancer. Timothy’s parents were at his bedside and it was easy to see that the pressure was taking its toll on them. One of them had been with him around the clock.
“Hello Timothy” said Father Thomas.
Timothy was seven years old but as he lay in his bed, covered only by a sheet; his emaciated body looked nothing like the body of a robust seven year old boy. Father Thomas had been reading to Timothy a story about a giant and a brave young warrior named David. Timothy’s eyes lit up as he watched Father Thomas enter the room and filled his spirit with hope.
Father Thomas loved his job; he loved people and actually didn’t even think of what he did as work. He lived for another day, another chance to pray with someone who had lost all hope, to encourage someone who needed just a bit of God’s light or to hold the hand of someone as they passed through the veil that separates us from our eternal Heavenly Father.
Father Thomas never questioned God’s supreme will. He never wondered why God allowed some to live long spans of life and why He would require some to come home before life had a chance to take root.
The Priest had witnessed miracles. He had watched as a patient diagnosed as terminal was healed and left the hospital with a new chance at life. In contrast he also watched as a baby took only a few short breaths. He believed that God was ultimately in control and even when things looked upside down Father Thomas believed that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called to His purpose.
God loves every person that He has created. His desire is that all people would live eternally with Him in a world where there is no pain, suffering or heartache. The world in which we now live will not last forever. However, there is an eternal kingdom coming, one in which we all have an opportunity to live in. All people can be united together in love, the love of an almighty Father through the love of His Son.
It is our blessed hope for a bright future, one where our bodies do not get sick, do not wear out but instead shine in the glory of God’s eternal love.
