Today I thought a lot about my mother-in-law. Today she lies in the hospital and her life is almost over...and I thought you know I wonder what she thinks about today. What weighs heavy on her mind? I am sure it is nothing like what lays heavy on mine. For what lies heavy on my mind today are things like, how will I pay this bill, or how will I get this child here and that one there, and how will I get through this trial, or how will I get through that toughness, or even simple things like what will we eat for supper today. No, she does not think on those things. Today, if I were to ask her what she was thinking about, I am sure I would hear,, well I am worried about Neal(that is her husband of 55 years), what will he do without me, how will he make it on his own after all these years, will he be okay, will he be lonely, will he be able to go on....and so many other thoughts.
She is probably thinking about her children, her many grandchildren, her great grandchildren of which she has added yet one more to the count even today as she lies in the hospital. How will they be in the future, what will life be like for them, do they know me, do I know them, and wow, just yesterday I was having children myself......and the thoughts go on.
Or is she thinking about her health, will this be it, will I go home, will I live to see tomorrow, will I get to hold that new grandchild, or will I get to enjoy my next upcoming birthday......and so much more.
But to be her right now, I would imagine that foremost in her mind has to be the contentment and peace that when the time comes and God calls her to come home, what a joy that will be. That if life ends today, if she never gets to go home, never gets to see that new grandchild, never makes it to her next birthday, she has a Savior and King who she will spend eternity with. She knows where she will be, and life here is so temporary and fleeting, and life there is so perfect.
My mother-in-law and I have not always seen eye to eye. We come from two very different backgrounds and we are two very different people, but we have two things very in common-we love Jesus and we love her son. And yet, while she is very different from me, she did raise a son, a man so very wonderful. A man who loves me unconditionally, a man who loves the Lord with all his heart, a man who takes care of me and our children, and a man with the biggest heart ever. And though she has her faults as we all do, she did bring my wonderful husband into this world, and though she is not responsible for his relationship with Jesus, she is his mom, and so......
Today, I pray for his mother, that God will grant her peace, He will either heal her body, or take her home to be perfectly healed, no pain, no suffering, no fluid around her heart, no struggling to breath, just perfect healing. To sit at His feet, to lean on Him, to see her mom and her dad, and her brothers, and her friends who have gone on before her, and to wait for her husband to join her one day. Today I pray for my husband, for though his love for me is greater than for any other but Jesus himself, it is his mother, and this is a journey that we knew one day together we would walk. May I be for him what he needs for me to be, for this will be our first loss of a parent. Today I pray for my father-in-law, who for 55 years has stuck by her side, loved her, put up with her faults as she has his, stood by her, cared for her, and just been there at all times when she needed him to be. What a journey they have walked together, what a life they have lived, what blessings they have received, and what a legacy they will leave...55 years...and while he struggles with health issues of his own, the thought has to be in his mind as has been many times before, how will I make it without her after all these years.
His mother....for 18 years has been my mother-in-law....and though her journey on this Earth will soon end, forever she will be etched in our hearts...and a part of her will always be in the man I look at each day, and love....
