Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ.
Galatians 6:2 (NIV)
Highland Trail was an upscale assisted living center where Nancy and I played music each month. The outside of the building resembled a Tudor style mansion, and the inside was just as opulent. It cost several thousand dollars a month to live there, and Medicare doesn’t pay for assisted living. As you can imagine, most of the tenants at Highland were well off and used to indulging in the finer things of life. And the staff there catered to their every need, until they were back in their luxury rooms, that is. The consensus among many who lived there was that the employees didn’t think they got paid enough to go beyond their job descriptions for anyone.
Case in point was one of our favorite residents, Ima Jean. She couldn’t get her big screen television to work, and apparently no one was willing to help her. She pleaded with me after we finished our sing-along, “Mr. David, please come take a look at my TV, I dropped the remote and it stopped working.” I agreed to follow her to her two-room suite and see what I could do. When I checked the remote, I noticed that the battery compartment cover wasn’t on correctly, and sure enough one of the batteries was in backwards. I took it out and put it back right and pushed the power button. The giant flatscreen came to life, and Ima Jean looked at me like I had just parted the waters. When I handed her back the remote, she started flipping through channels like a gleeful child! She then pointed to the pictures of her grown children, hanging on the wall, and said, “My kids thank you for helping their mama!”
It was simple for me–next to nothing, really, but to her it was nothing less than a miracle. I’ve helped others like this many times since: wheeling someone out to the outdoor terrace, for some sunshine, or patiently listening to a resident tell a story I’ve heard them tell once or twice before. It’s often the small and simple things that make the biggest difference to those who have lost much of their independence.
This makes me thankfully ponder the many times God has helped with what is impossible for me, but simple for Him. A broken life situation that I couldn’t fix, turned out to be heaven’s equivalent to a backwards battery.
Kind reader, what is impossible for us, is an easy fix for the Creator of the universe who reaches down with nail-pierced hands to redeem!
Thank you for reading. 🙏❤️ prayers and love.
Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.
Psalm 68:19 (NIV)
This piece was first published in the Sunshine Weekly Newsletter, a publication which is shared in nursing homes and assisted living centers. A special thank you to Peter Caligiuri, aka “Pastor Pete,” for inviting me to contribute a monthly column! Peter blogs at praise2worship.net
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