NorthStar Community Daily Devotional

April 8

This month’s devotionals were written in grateful collaboration with my mother-in-law, who passed away a couple weeks ago.

Scripture focus: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV

Trusting and leaning are complicated issues – not for the faint of heart. Both require believing that if one leans, someone will be willing to catch them. In many areas, my other mother was a humble woman – willing to take advice and ask for help. This was particularly true when it came to her own mother.

After Wes died, Gram Peabody came to live with Marion and her sons. Gram loved to help others and saw this as a loving act. Bringing her big personality into a house of mourning wasn’t easy. And sometimes there were conflicts. As she aged, Gram’s own health issues magnified. One time in particular has become etched into all our minds – because it was so very, very funny. Gram was having stomach problems, and they were significant. Marion did what she did so well, she humbly asked for help by calling the family doctor.
Everyone waited pensively for the return call. When the phone rang, Marion leapt from her seat. “Hello?”

“How’s Mrs. Peabody?” The caller asked.

Marion began to describe in vivid and gross detail how Gram was doing. Marion, in her rush to get assistance, carried on for minutes on end, only to be stopped in her tracks by the caller’s reply, “Have you thought about calling the doctor?” Suddenly, the rest of us heard an unmistakable sound…Marion was bent over double, laughing until tears streamed down her face. Little did we know that she had been talking to my brother – not the doctor.
Marion was good at trusting and leaning – most of the time. However, when it came to her own health concerns, she would often speak in more guarded tones. Eventually we learned to cringe when Nana said, “I’m fine.” Usually that was a sure sign that she was not.

The morning of the day that we took Marion to the hospital, I called to check on her. “I’m fine dear, I think I’ve turned a corner.” A few hours later, she was turning a corner all right – making a sharp turn for a speedy deposit at her favorite hospital’s emergency room entrance. If we’ve learned anything in our family it is this – love covers a multitude of mishaps and snafus. If everyone was perfectly fine all the time, then who would need to practice the fine art of loving each other well? Love is complicated by our own human tendencies to act…human. It’s best accomplished by trusting and leaning on someone real sturdy – God.


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