Loving Well (05/14/2025)

It was 2003. She was working at the local grocery store as a cashier. An elderly man shopped there weekly, always choosing her checkout line when he was done shopping. One day he asked her if she worked every day. She told him that she had the weekend off. So, he asked her if she would come to his home to help him with a few household things. She said she would.

She got a friend to go with her, planning to go for an hour or so to help with his “household things.” When she arrived, she was struck by how run down his home was on the outside. When she got inside with her friend, she found it was even worse. She wondered what she’d gotten herself and her friend into.  But that day, they didn’t do any “household things.” Instead, he asked them to sit down and just visit with him. And they did for over two hours. When they got ready to leave, she asked if he’d like them to visit another time. His eyes filled with tears as he thanked them for just “being here.” They said a prayer with him and left. Even though they hadn’t tackled any chores, she felt that she had helped him.

She ended up going to see him often, taking him on her days off for his doctor appointments. When his health worsened, he had congestive heart failure, she took him into her home because he had no one else except for a farm friend who rented the man’s land. He had not relatives nearby. He couldn't live by himself. She came to love him like a grandfather.

She took a one-month unpaid leave of absence from her job at the grocery store to care for him. He died, in her arms, 12 days later as she was praying the “Our Father” with him. He died knowing he mattered, knowing he was loved. She still visits his grave on the annual anniversary of his death. Her care continues to this day.

This woman has inspired me so many times. I wonder to myself if I appear to be a person who would help another. I wonder if I am open enough for another to ask for my help. I wonder, honestly, if I would go to these measures to help another. I wonder how many times in my life I could have and should have done more for another struggling and alone.

Jesus tells us that we are to love one another as He has loved us (John 15). We know with one glance at the crucifix that this love isn’t always going to easy. We should also know that it is going to cost us. Are we willing to do as Christ asks, to love one another as He has loved us?

As we continue our journeys of faith in our LORD, of hope in our LORD’s promise, and fueled by the love the LORD showers upon us moment to moment, let us commit to being His instruments in this world, of bringing His love tangibly to others by giving them our attention, giving them our time, giving them our love, giving them what they need in the moment.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.