"I have learned that if you have something to eat, a roof overhead and clean water, you should be most grateful - you number among the world's most blessed." [Luke Crisp's Diary, Lost December, by Richard Paul Evans, p. 197]I visited Marie in the hospital yesterday. She attends Free Methodist Community Church - where I serve as pastor. She is in her eighties and is known in our congregation as 'Mom-Marie', because for decades she cared for our littlest members in the nursery. She is universally loved and respected - along with her husband, Jim.
In typical fashion, she greeted me with her beautiful smile and a big hug. Marie frequently enfolds me, then clasping my hand in hers looks me in the eye and tells me how much she loves and appreciates me. I know she means it.
We sat and talked. She spoke with gratitude for all that God has given her in life. She talked about growing up on the farm. "We didn't have anything. But we weren't poor." Then she told me of a puzzle that she had as a child. With a twinkle in her eyes she told me of putting that puzzle together over and over and over again. One puzzle.
She reflected that her parents rarely went to the store. They grew everything they needed. She seemed partly present and partly somewhere else as she remembered helping her mom can eighty jars of peaches to see the family through the winter and spring.
It occurred to me as we spoke that Marie was content! She has so much more than she ever dreamed possible. She wants for nothing except salvation and peace for some of her family. Marie is one of the most wonderful people I know; she reminds me of my own mother.
In a culture that is deeply invested in the belief that material things can satisfy, it is rare to find someone who truly understands Philippians 4:11 (NASB).
I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.
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