Reflection:
Our friend Jill told me about being the pastoral care worker in her previous church. Her job was to visit people, especially those having a really hard time. One day, she went to see a beautiful, elderly lady with cancer. The lady was in her last days, at the hospice. Jill had seen her many times before, and she knew that her friend had been struggling and there wasn’t much time left. But that day when Jill walked in, the lady was sitting in the sunshine, wearing a white gown and with a halo of white hair. The lady turned and smiled, and said, “Jill! It’s all right!” Then she read Zephaniah 3:17-20, “The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing…he will bring you home.” And then the lady said, “Just imagine, Jill! God is singing! Can you hear him singing?!” The two women paused and imagined God singing. They talked about the way he quiets us with his love. Later, Jill went home, and she explained to me that she went to the hospice thinking that she was doing her job, in ministry… and yet it was the opposite way around. Jill was ministered to. Truly, God’s ways are not our ways. He knows what we need.
Prayer:
Lord, I thank you that even when life feels bleak, you take great delight in me. You rejoice over me with singing. Please help me to be someone who shares your joy and hope with others, even as the end draws near.