WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8
Psalm 40:4 Happy are those who trust in the Lord.
Mary is 90 years old, almost 91. She had one knee replaced about 10 years ago, but refuses to see any doctors for more than a very cursory check up now and then. She doesn’t get around much, only leaves her bungalow about once a week, never complains about her arthritis or her missing teeth. She tidies her home, cooks fried chicken and greens, reads her Bible, and laughs as she tells stories about her life and her “family.”
Mary never graduated high school. She married but never had children of her own. Instead she helped support and care for others’ children over the years. She worked hard cleaning houses for rich folks all her life. She appreciated the simplest blessings in good times and bad, and turned her cares over to God. Her motto and declaration rings in my ears: God is good.
Mary entered my life when I was three years old. She worked for my parents, rejoiced at our family weddings, and years later returned to my home to help me raise my own children – she is a member of our family and counts us her own children. She phones me to say hi, check up on the kids, share a memory, and say “I love you.”
Having this connection, this bond with Mary—a poor, uneducated Black woman with a heart of gold—has enriched my life and the lives of my siblings and my children more than any other person I can think of. Because of Mary’s love for all of us, because of her tender care, her patience, her loyalty, her work ethic, her indomitable spirit, her deep and abiding faith in God, we all view racism, poverty, injustice, hardship, and inequality through a unique lens. Because of Mary, our lives are different. In a way, we saw the face of God. Mary will always live in our hearts.
Prayer: Dear God, thank you for Mary. Help us to touch lives as she touched ours. Amen.
Diane Falconer
powered by phplist v 2.10.8, © tincan ltd
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