Love…with a Comb
Sitting near the bed in a hospital room, I visited with an elderly couple from my church. She had just undergone surgery the day before to repair a broken hip as her husband, near exhaustion, smiled and reminisced. All of the while, his wife couldn’t recall what she was doing in the hospital as Alzheimer’s had wreaked havoc in her mind.
As I continued to visit, the nurse brought in a comb that the man had requested in order to comb his wife’s hair. I watched with a sense of awe as this man who served his nation in World War II combed his wife’s white hair.
I had been reflecting prior to my arrival at the hospital on how great is the brokenness that exists in our world. Sin and selfishness has robbed us of so much of the goodness of life. We are forced into guarding our children and grandchildren like mercenaries from the evil influences of this world. We live in a world where we hear of hatemongers who blow themselves up in order to take the lives of innocents in some perverted expression of their faith.
Christian denominations and churches find themselves besieged from within and without by those who would rather follow the ways of the world than the Apostolic faith handed down to us by God through adherence to Scripture.
We struggle as individuals against the influence of the world in our own homes as the enemy attempts to seduce us in any way possible in his attempt to remove our focus from God.
Yet into this world filled with darkness came one who didn’t fall for the temptations of the enemy. He lived a sinless life, healed the sick, fed the hungry and taught his disciples to be servants of others. This man, Jesus told us in John 6:29, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.” He also told us in Matthew 5:14, “You are the light of the world — like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.”
From where I sat in that hospital room, I could see that light shining brightly as the man combed her hair; his wife gazed up into his eyes with a look of deep love and affection, in spite of her pain and the effects of Alzheimer’s. May we, too, be lights in this darkened world so long as God gives us the ability as we serve others in His love.
