NorthStar Community Daily Devotional

April 22

A series of collaborative works with my mother-in-law, who died three weeks ago…

Scripture focus: How can I stand up before God and show proper respect to the high God? Should I bring an armload of offerings topped off with yearling calves? Would God be impressed with thousands of rams, with buckets and barrels of olive oil? Would he be moved if I sacrificed my firstborn child, my precious baby, to cancel my sin? But he's already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It's quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love, and don't take yourself too seriously— take God seriously. Micah 6:6-8 The Message

Marion modeled fairness towards all. She was good to her neighbors, and they were good to her.

When we were first married, Marion sold her home and moved into a condominium. This was both an economic and pragmatic decision. In hindsight, we all think it was a God thing. Over the years in her condo, she and her mother developed some lovely relationships with their neighbors – a tradition I’m sure they practiced everywhere they lived. A few months ago, while shopping in my favorite grocery store, I ran into one of those neighbors. She reminded me of all the times that Nana or Gram had helped her and her young daughter out. But Marion would tell you that it was always a mutual thing – one neighbor doing for another.

Families are enriched when they reach out into the community and add friends to the mix. I’ve observed that families seem to struggle when they live in isolation. Friends help “round families out” and provide new ideas and ways of thinking about how families can work.

If the measure of a person can be taken by the quality of one’s friends, Marion was a bazillionaire. She had great friends. In the last few months of her life, Marion was struggling to recuperate from yet another fall. As she tried to regain her strength, one friend brought her mail, another food. Marion didn’t feel like getting out as she was very weak, so friends stopped by and called regularly. Her community watched over her from a respectful distance, enabling her family to feel reasonably ok with her decision to stay in her apartment, rather than transfer over to assisted living.

These friends were like a strand of precious pearls. Each unique with their own luster and giftedness, when joined together they made it possible for Marion to live her last months her way – independently. One lesson I will never forget from these last weeks: friends are treasures, priceless, life sustaining.

One of life’s grandest epic adventures is friendship.


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