I love the elderly. Anyone who knows me well knows that one of my favorite things in this world to do is to sit with an elderly person and just listen to their story. I see so much beauty in age. I see laugh lines and crinkles at the corner of their eyes and I can tell that they have lived life well. I can look at their hands and see a past of hard work. In the elderly I do not merely receive their history through words, but in the essence of who they are. This has proved particularly useful the past several months through the language barrier that so often presents itself.
I have sat and held the hands of countless seniors over the Race. I am absolutely drawn to them. This past Tuesday will be a memory forever etched in my mind. My new elderly friend, Mary, was different. The hand that I held was not tough from hard work; it was completely deformed, with only a thumb and a few stumped fingers remaining. Mary’s face told a story of decades of severe pain. There was no longer the true form of a nose. Her teeth were decayed and her speech was not particularly clear, even to the translator. Mary’s feet no longer had toes. Her eyes held deep pain; however, they also danced with gratitude while we were there. My new friend is a leper.
This Tuesday, we had the opportunity to go to Kumi hospital to do ministry. As I’ve mentioned previously, hospital ministry is one of my favorites. For over a century, Kumi Hospital has been known for its Leprosy ward. The ward thrived in the middle of the 1900s. After the disease became curable in the 1980s, the huge ward was no longer needed in its expanse; however the hospital recognized a problem. The lepers were completely rejected from their villages. Their families would not accept them because they were quite deformed and could not work because of missing limbs and lingering pain. Kumi Hospital set up an area behind the main wards of the hospital to provide for these lepers. There is a leper community now. When I spoke with the hospital superintendent, he told me that many of the lepers have had leper weddings and have married someone they met in the community. One of the most precious sites that I have seen is a leper woman with missing fingers and toes guide her blind husband, who suffered a greater loss of appendages. The two had the BIGGEST smiles on their faces and greeted us enthusiastically. Adorable.
I LOVED hanging out in the community. I sincerely wish that I had more time visiting. I became quick friends Mary. I met Mary as she was struggling to open peanut shells with her deformed hands. I sat next to her and broke the shells off for her while engaging in conversation through a translator. We held hands and laughed and chatted. She had been suffering for a very long time and still had a lot of pain. Mary had five children, but three of them died and the other two refused to see her. Mary’s dress was full of holes and very tattered. The small bowl that I put the peanuts in had holes in the bottom which made it near useless for holding the nuts. I honestly wonder if Mary has ever had a visitor, and if so, when the last time occurred.
I have found that the reason that the Lord put me on the World Race is to learn that my actions do not determine my significance. This is a HUGE lesson for me to learn because I am a do-er. I see needs and I strive to meet them. I seek to love and please the Lord by serving Him in every way possible. I am trying to accept the fact that I am significant to the Lord and loved by Him dearly apart from my actions. I am trying to accept that my mere existence pleases the Lord. For a do-er it is a tough thing to digest. Mary gave me perspective. I loved Mary and she did nothing for me. I was absolutely not going to be someone like her daughter who would reject her because she could not perform. She could say nothing and she would still be of value to me. Obviously, the One who actually formed and created her feels even stronger of her value.
