Mary, Mary...

Many years ago,, when I lived in Oklahoma City, I was part of a puppet team at church and once a month we would visit a nursing home and entertain the residents and visit with them.
Once resident still, after all these years, stays in my mind. Her name is Mary. Mary was not a resident that was at the end of life’s highway, but a relatively young person who had an unfortunate event in life.
Mary was in a car that was struck by a train. She survived but the consequences of the accident had caused a stroke in her brain and left her deeply in need of full term care. She had limited use of her arms, couldn’t use her legs, and had very little speech left. Very little was left of the young mother of her children that sat, strapped, in the wheel chair.
Mary was married, she had children and she had a life to live. But a split second changed all of it, and here she sat, her arms tied to the chair’s armrest and a large seat belt holding her in the chair. This sounds cruel, but without this she couldn’t sit up and stay in the chair. Her head tilted all the time to the left and she constantly drooled onto the lap table attached to the chair.
Her hair needed combed and when she tried to talk, it took her ten minutes to say hello. But, while exteriors where a wreck, inside there was still the mind of a woman.
Probably a very sad woman, whose husband decided she wasn’t worthy any more of his love. A man who lied when he said “in sickness and health” at the altar of commitment. A man who divorced the woman he said “until death do we part”. Talk about commitment.
Commitment. Something not very popular in this country. Take a Hollywood minute, and get married and get divorced. Problems arise? Shuck it all and start over. Feel bad? Take a pill and it will get better! Now, now, now. Not later, later, later.
Commitment to many is a dirty word, but to the one who said “faithful is He who called you” (1 Th 5:24) commitment is not something taken lightly.
“But God commends His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. “
(Rom 5:8) Talk about commitment. Not very many of use will do that for just anyone, but Christ did for us.
And Christ isn’t just around for the good times, the young times, the fun times, but He is here for all times; “God is faithful, by whom you were called to the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” (1Co 1:9)
God is with us, in the good times and bad. Beautiful, ugly, ultra athlete or cripple, rich or poor, famous or unknown, Jesus died for all of us and He stays with us. Unlike Mary’s husband, He will never, ever leave us nor forsake us.
I don’t know what ever became of Mary, times and places have changed since then, but knowing her condition, I have no doubt she has no physical pain or suffering any longer.