Ministry

I was speaking at one of the assisted living facilities in town the other day.  We were talking about paths and roads.  

The faces on those lovely people were a study in what happens when God touches lives.  Some were radiant with joy – some tender and caring – some interested and thinking deeply; but almost every one of them reflected God’s work in the lives of His children.

   

As we read verses from the Bible that were sometimes familiar, I saw lips moving with a remembered verse – always with such a strength of understanding that it made tears come to my eyes. 

Heads nodded when the Word told of God’s direction and care.  When asked to recite along with the reading of the 23^rd Psalm, almost every one of these beautiful people knew every single word – in the King James Version.  (It’s my choice for memorization as well.)

When we sang beautiful hymns of the faith, many of them didn’t even need to look at the words – they knew them.  They knew them because they had lived them.  They knew that the straight paths, the narrow paths, the paths lightened by God’s righteousness, were the paths that they had traveled over many years. 

The smiles on their faces as we talked about Jesus being the only path, the only way to the Father - to our eternal home, showed me that they knew everything I’d been talking about.  But the smiles and nods also told me that they appreciated being reminded.

A ministry?  Oh yes!  But they were ministering to me.  These beautiful faces drew me closer to the one who had sustained them for years.  These friends helped me to see that the closer you get to “home,” the more you’re aware of what home really means.

Beautiful!