five minutes with Flora (PART 2)
It was more like 10 minutes this week... In my conversations with her, there is a lot of silence, a bit of waiting, moments where we just sit. They are moments of silent speech and busy thought. It is interesting b/c as I mentioned before, she is not really ever able to respond much to anything I say to her. She was more responsive this week than last. Her answers to some of my questions actually made sense and weren't just groans with almost no meaning. Anyways, I read my Bible to her again. It was Psalm 8 this week. That was the verse that I preached my first sermon on. I still remember parts of it...illustrations, and explanations. This time, I had no illustrations, no explanations, no catchy phrases or sarcastic statements. All I had were the handfull of verses. They seemed so alive in that nursing home where death is lurking (probably somewhere in the bathroom across the hall, or maybe the kitchen). 'o Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!' I cannot say/read that verse without singing the song in my head. I wish Flora and I could have sung that song together. Anyways, the psalm was over quickly, and Flora wanted me to read some more, so I opened up John and told her that it was my favorite gospel. I read to her the story of Jesus talking with the Samaritan woman. When I was done, I noticed Flora was crying. Her eyes were speaking a thousand words to me, but I couldn't understand what they were saying. Maybe she was saying, 'thank you for reading me the Word.' Maybe she was saying, 'i am in pain, and i want to go home.' Maybe she was saying, 'couldn't you just stay a little longer?' I just held her hand for a minute or two and then prayed with her. And, as I did last week, I promised that I would be back next week...she told me she hoped she was still there...