I'm not sure where I stand theologically on the concept of angels, but there certainly are people who embody angelic traits. A few, through service to my mom, make me very thankful.
S. is my mother's "Stephen Minister". Stephen Ministers are lay people trained to be caring listeners and supporters to people in times of crisis or transition. S. has that incredible gift of asking a leading question and then truly and deeply listening, no matter how long the answer may take. I'm always busy with the nitty gritty -- Do Mom's hearing aid batteries need changing? How about watering the plants? Do I need to intervene in the crisis of the day? -- but S. gives the really needed service. She listens! And she is the only person I'm aware of who has really gotten into faith issues with Mom. She's a wonderful Mary to my busy Martha. Mom, I guess, needs both.
Yesterday S. brought my mother a portable CD player with earphones and a 3 CD set of familiar hymns. Today I put the earphones on Mom, inserted a CD, hit play and Mom sat there listening intently, totally ignoring me, for twenty minutes. She would have listened longer had I not turned it off. Mom has her old "boom box", but it's too complicated for her to operate and doesn't have earphones. On the portable unit, however, I was able to label the play/stop and volume buttons, leave it plugged in, and insert a CD ready to play. Hopefully, she will remember how to work it and spend part of this afternoon listening. Leave it to angel "S" to think of such a simple thing to bring Mom joy!
Mom's other continuing angel is Pat who, like S., regularly gives my mother the wonderful gift of truly listening. Since Pat has been part of our family for 40 years (yikes!) Mom loves being able to talk with someone "who knows the characters" in her life story. Pat knows that I worry about Mom when I'm out of town and always visits during those times. Recently Pat spent a weekend with her family in Boston, came back late Monday, taught school Tuesday, and, in spite of her exhaustion, still found time for an extended visit with Mom after school because she knew Mom wouldn't have other visitors. Now that's a caring angel!
Some angels make brief appearances. Yesterday it was the dentist. He listened to Mom - didn't talk to me over her head. When he found two small cavities, he asked if Mom was up to having them filled right then -- realizing that getting her to the office was no small feat. In less than an hour her teeth were cleaned, her partial was adjusted, and her cavities were filled!
In conversation I had commented to the dentist that the building only minimally meets ADA standards because is so difficult to enter with the wheel chair. It's a large building and he's just a tenant down the hall, but guess who just happened to be in the entry way ready to help with the doors as we left? This man, who could have been put off by Mom's direct "Where are you from?" question, instead graciously answered that he was born here to parents who were from India and then proceeded to treat her in a true angelic fashion.
Dealing with my mom's disability has opened my eyes a lot. Some people are nervous in the presence of a wheel-chair bound person. Some presume that her brain doesn't work just because her body doesn't and ignore her. Happily, however, most people act like S., Pat, and the dentist who see beyond infirmity and share great love with the person inside.
"Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not take care of you?"
"Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me."
Matthew 25: 44-45
No comments:
Post a Comment