Until yesterday, I had not met Renee. She had requested the pastoral
staff come to her home to pray with her. We are always willing to do this for
folks, but honestly, I always feel awkward and anxious as I enter these
situations. I never know what people are truly hoping for in these moments of
prayer. Would Renee hope we could bring
God’s miraculous healing of her cancer? Would she or her family be in an
inconsolable emotional state? Would she have questions about death, heaven, and
her spiritual state? All of these were possibilities and we needed to be
prepared and willing to speak into them by God’s grace and the Spirit’s power. What
would Renee need from us? But as Dan, Cindi, and I walked into her front door,
we all knew immediately we were in for something completely unexpected. We were
in for a rare treat.
As we walked through the door, Renee greeted us with a
radiant smile and a warm, prolonged hug. She was truly excited to see us,
though we had never met. Immediately, I felt at ease. As we talked with Renee
in her kitchen, we could see physical signs that cancer and chemotherapy had
ravaged her body. She introduced us to her sister Mimi, who helped arrange our
visit and to her daughter and son-in-law who came for the day. “Can you believe
that they drove all the way from Kalamazoo just to clean my house?” she
exclaimed.
As we moved into her living room, we could hear a vacuum
cleaner running in a back room. Renee began to talk about her family as we
looked at a picture of her four daughters on a shelf in a prominent place in
the room. As I understood her, only one was a biological daughter. The other
three were girls that she and her husband had taken in over the years. They had
come to be their daughters through love, care, and an open home. She explained
that the daughter who was cleaning her home was a girl they took in 18 years
ago when she was 15 years old. Her life was riddled with pain and abuse and
Renee and her husband opened their lives and home to this girl in need.
Renee talked about her husband who had passed away a few
years prior. She looked forward to seeing him again in heaven. She joked about
the things she wanted to say to him and hoped that heaven had been a good place
for him the last few years. Renee told us stories of her life while using words
like “blessed” and “grateful” throughout. It was obvious to me that this woman
is traveling the final days of her life with joy, contentment, and uncommon
peace.
Cancer was stealing physical comfort from her, but it could
not steal her love for each moment she had breath. Inwardly, I asked myself,
“What prepares a person to face their death with such ease and comfort?” I’ve
concluded that Renee must be a person who lives in constant gratitude for the
blessings God gives her. Her gratitude spills out into generosity. She knows
that God has blessed her with the purpose of her being a blessing to others. Living
with that heart-perspective has led her to finish well with joy and dignity.
As we go through this series on the Jewish festivals, I’ve
wondered about the lives of those who celebrated these holidays faithfully. What
principles did they live by as a result of these celebrations? Well, I think
Renee helped me answer that question. Think about the Feast of Weeks or
Pentecost. This was another festival that celebrated the harvest. The principle
that God wanted to instill in his nation was to give thanks to the Giver who
had again provided for their needs. He wanted the people to then share some of
that provision with the poor and those traveling through their region. In
Leviticus 23, God lays out an elaborate way for them to offer their sacrifice
of gratitude for the harvest. It included them offering to God wheat, bread,
lambs, bulls, and goats. It appears to be a generous offering back to God their
provider. But, there was more.
When you reap the harvest of your land, do
not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your
harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am
the Lord your God. Leviticus 23.22
Interesting thing to add to the end of a
festival description, isn’t it? God wants his people to experience his
provision and blessing with grateful hearts, gratitude that spills over into
generosity to God, and to others in need.
Renee became of hero of mine yesterday in
that regard. She’s a woman who has lived these principles for a lifetime. She can
now pass into the arms of the Giver with joy and ease. I’m grateful for that
hour with Renee and hope she can encourage and minister to me more in her final
days. It was a pleasure to learn a lesson about gratitude and generosity from
this special lady.
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