Blessings in Disguise

Sitting there in her wheelchair,
Still living in the past.
Sitting there day after day
Soon it will be her last.

Her life was spent with children
Her devotion, sincere.
She spent long, tiring hours
Teaching, soothing their fears.

Have they really forgotten,
This one who loved them so . . .
The one who made time for them
When others told them no?

She sat there, looking so sad
While others passed her by.
I knelt down by her wheelchair,
She looked me in the eye.

I made a simple comment....
"Good to see you again".
But, this sweet, precious soul heard
"I care, you have a friend".

No further words were needed,
Just her warm, tender smile.
Thank you, God, for showing me
What is really worthwhile.

I left a different person,
I had learned something new.
We all need to feel needed
Young and old, me and you.

Yes, I had always known this...
But that day roles were reversed.
My goal, make her feel needed,
Quench her emotional thirst.

What a blessing God bestowed
Such a beautiful smile!
I've never felt so needed.
Never felt so worthwhile.

They need to know they are needed,
And in return, so do we.
God pours his blessings out through them
I urge you...try it...you'll see!
Susan Trafford Martin, 1999
(inspired after visiting a nursing home)

"A gray head is a crown of glory; It is found in the way of righteousness".
~Proverbs 16:31
"Listen to your father who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old."
~Proverbs 23:22
"You shall rise up before the gray-headed and honor the aged, and you shall revere your God; I am the Lord".

~Leviticus 19:32