What Was Important Today in Your Life

After my fiasco with hot water heaters, I had been invited to a Christmas luncheon with people I had worked with. It was like the "annual feast" when I use to play taps in high school for veterans who died. No money, just the feast. Today's was a terrific one, one of the best.

Afterwards, I stopped by Alive Hospice. A friend is nearing the end of his life. He often worked nights at the hospital. He was a Christian who had struggled for many years to make a living. He often asked for prayers, described the tough life he had in Africa and the horrible deaths of family members. But in spite of everything, he had a sunny disposition and was a joy to be around. He asked me a year ago for prayers for surgery. I did not realize how bad it was until last week. Just something one forgets.

He is struggling to live for a few more days. He is tremendously weak. In two days he becomes an American Citizen. It is what he is living for.  The officials know he can not make the ceremony all the way through, but with the aid of a social worker, the ceremony will be carried out in a much shorter version. Nine of his friends were outside waiting. Sorta like a death watch I have been at many times. I held his weak hand and said a short prayer. I told him what a good friend he had be and that he meant a lot to me.

I left and told those outside, all a different race than me, how much he meant to me. I left with a heavy heart, aware of how friends we take for granted are really what is important!  I came home to the usual political banter, political victories claimed by each party, and I was very sad. The most important thing that happened for me today was seeing the courageous struggle a young man was having to become an American citizen before he died.