Monday, April 8, 2013

A Beauty Secret

She greeted us with a warm, welcoming smile that glowed from somewhere deep down inside. It was a smile that drew you in and made you want to stay. I had come to minister in some small way. She, and her lovely friends,  blessed me in ways that cannot be measured.

 It began several months ago when Jean, one of the ladies in my Mom's Sunday School class, told her about a project to make lap quilts for the folks in an independent living home. With a lack of able hands (most of the ladies in their class are well into their eighties) the project had fallen by the wayside. Mom immediately took up her crochet hook and got to work. I decided to join her and took up my knitting needles.

One of the residents of the home, Bobbie, is in charge of the project. She has lived there for nine years and has turned this small, dark building into a place of ministry. She looks for ways to brighten the lives of the people around her, and lap quilts seemed like a good idea.



 

On this beautiful spring day, we arrived with our finished quilts. I thought we had come to give, but as is always the case in God's economy, I received much more than I could possible hope to give.


I sat watching my Mom, Jean and Bobbie, marveling at their beauty. In this season of their lives, when health problems make even the simplest tasks difficult and it would be so much easier to leave ministry to others, they are still finding ways to serve. Jean visits the home several times a week. Mom does more in a day to encourage others than most do in a lifetime. And Bobbie is a light in a place where some have found only darkness. She seeks out the ones who are hurting and does her best to bring them a measure of joy.

These women have found the secret to enduring beauty, and it doesn't come in a jar or at the hands of a plastic surgeon. It comes from within where the Spirit has settled deep and produced abundant fruit in and through these lovely lives.

Joining Laura today:



Blessings,
Linda