I was feeling….
depressed on Saturday morning.
It is hitting me much harder having Katherine home this time.
It’s summertime…people aren’t around to help…Jay’s not here…
the heat is so oppressive, it’s hard to get out and do anything…
I haven’t felt up to par since our travels…
my back’s out…
and, on top of everything else, I lost my cell phone.
(I cried about that one.)
Everything seems hard.
But I guess the main thing is seeing Katherine in her childhood home… unable to do much but sit. When Jay’s here, we don’t notice that as much. He somehow manages to keep her busy.
Going up the many stairs in our house is a dangerous, precarious, and lengthy process for her. Like climbing a mountain. Going down them is even worse, with the prospect of a face-first avalanche fall.
Sometimes I can’t help juxtaposing these slow expeditions with an image of Katherine tearing down (or up) those same stairs three at a time, chatting excitedly into her cell phone about her plans.
There aren’t many plans now.
It’s been a challenging time on multiple levels. I'm completely out of steam.
I’ve been waking up early, yet exhausted.
Saturday morning, I got up, drank some coffee, started some chores. But then I got back in bed. Tried to return some emails, but mostly just stared into space.
James had been running around getting into things, but he came and scrambled his way up into my high, old bed. He didn’t say anything, just lay at the foot of the bed and looked at me.
That’s pretty unusual.
He picked up my foot. He examined the bottom, where I have the leftovers of a blister.
“Mimi has a booboo,” he solemnly stated. “I gone kiss it, make it better.”
He did.
He kissed my dirty foot about 10 times, slowly and gently. Then he said, “I gone get some med'cine make it better.” But he stayed there and kissed it some more.
I pretended not too be too interested, afraid he might stop. He continued to lie at my feet, looking intently at my face as I typed.
And he kissed my weary foot once more.
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…he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him…
"Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” " (from John 13)
“When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.” (Luke 37-38)
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Have you experienced any holy little moments like that... when someone or something has ministered to you in a humbling and unexpected way? I think such moments are all around us; we just don't always recognize them for what they are.
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10 comments:
That is so sweet I can't stand it. Mine kiss the boo-boos, too. It's adorable and comforting to remember that childlike knowledge that love heals all manner of things.
I am so moved - can't think of any holy moments at this time; but will watch more carefully after hearing that uplifting story.....
He is such a good kid. Comes from good stock.
Love you guys--been thinking about you all a lot lately.
xx, Desiree
What a wise Mimi...allowing your ministering grandson to kiss your dirty feet.
My Holy moment came at my Mother’s death bed.
She was old and worn out.
Her feet were old and worn out.
The Holy Spirit prompted me to pull back the covers at the foot of her bed and massage her tired old aching feet.
I thought: ‘No way am I going to touch those nasty cracked calloused feet’...
as I found my hands cradling her foot.
"I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” (from John 13)
Tears rolled down my face as I felt the presence of my Lord.
I was humbled when I realized He had Graced me.
The Teacher had Loved me by His example.
(with grace from the Holy Spirit) ...I sang praises to the Lord.
It was not a ’little’ Holy moment.
Oh, Kim this entry is so beautiful. My humbling moment came while I was in the rehab hospital recovering from my aneurysm rupture. My legs desperately needed to be shaved and my OT kindly shaved them for me. I know it was her job, but I was very humbled by that act of kindness.
Precious. All of you. All of us. Precious.
Watching a television show on PBS called Larkrise to Candleford is often a Holy Moment for me. A recent quote from the show. "To love is to open your heart to loss; because it's worth it."
(high school friend of jason's in Montgomery here) I am grown now with two children of my own and many Holy Moments with them to share, but one moment in particular that I will always cherish was years ago when my little sister and I were lying in bed one night - Whit 10 years younger than me. I, at the time was 14 or 15, she was 4 or 5, and I was rubbing her back. I apologized for having cold hands and she rolled over, turned her little baby face to me, held my hand and said, "why are you sorry? don't be sorry, they are your hands and they are cold. you can't help it" and she put the blanket over my hands. I have never forgotten that moment of when a child first taught me (then also still a child!) of what it meant to give up one's own pleasures to help another's suffering...
I have told Whit, now 18, that story since then and she laughs and has no memory of it. My prayer is that we can all be back in touch with our inner child, with perfect faith and testimony of God's merciful love.
The picture reminded me of a verse from one of my favorite songs. "All I Can Say" by the David Crowder Band
"I didn't notice You were standing here.
I didn't notice that that was You holding me.
I didn't notice You were crying, too.
I didn't know that that was You washing my feet."
How sweet Jesus used little James to wash your feet. Jesus knows how hard it is "down here." He'll take every opportunity to make it a little easier, a little sweeter.
He loves us.
I was touched by this story, and reminded of a "holy moment" that I experienced. A couple of months after my accident, when I was still in the post-rehab recovery phase, we went to visit close family friends in Tennessee. Their grandson, who was about 3 years old at the time, came the last day to say goodbye to us. Before he was born, an ultrasound revealed a large tumor on his brain, but he was born perfectly healthy. Another miracle child. He hugged each of us, saving me for last. I was sitting on the ground waiting for my hug; after his hug, he walked around behind me a kissed me on the top of my head.
It was one of those moments that just took my breath away because I felt God's presence right then and there.
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