SATURDAY, July 10

Psalm 116: I believed, even when I said, "I have been brought very low."

We had gotten engaged, but I hadn't told my parents. Their household was in turmoil due to my mother's radiation therapy and chemotherapy. We arrived at my parents' home, with the engagement ring in prominent but unspoken display. My mother may have been ill, but she was still sharp. "Nice ring," she said, glowing.

My mother spent much of the next several days with her soon-to-be daughter-in-law, telling her everything, passing on the entire wisdom of the tribe. I think she knew she was bound for glory and would not live until our wedding--but we weren't ready for that. She needed to dispense a lifetime of mother-in-lawing first.

She was in pain, and brought low. There was no comfortable position for her; when given enough medication for relief, she slept. "Time is short and the water rises," she would often say, and then refuse medication.

My fiancée's parents had died; my mother would be crossing over soon. She asked my fiancée if there was anything she wanted to tell them, for she was convinced she would be seeing them soon, just as she knew she would be seeing her Lord. Even brought low, she believed. (1999)

PRAY for the Diocese of Easton (Province III, USA)

Ps 20, 21:1-7(8-14) * 110:1-5(6-7), 116, 117; Deuteronomy 34:1-12; Romans 10:14-21; Matthew 24:32-51

View the daily Lectionary Readings at Satucket.com.
Or view the Bible passages at Biblegateway.com.

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