July 18th, 2005

Bowser

Tribe of Judah StarCraft Series Chapter Leader
Known by God

Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands.

-Isaiah 49:15-16 (NRSV)

"DOES she know the Lord?" my friend asked anxiously when I confided my worry over my mother's rapid descent into Alzheimer's disease. Mom was becoming confused even about the names and identities of her own children.

Does she know the Lord? I pondered as I looked at my frail mother. All her life, she had faithfully attended church; she had participated in our parish social-justice ministries; and in her later years, she had sought out a spiritual director to help her deepen her walk with Christ. Now, when she barely knew me, her own child, I could not say that she knew the Lord. At least, she did not know the Lord in ways that had been the familiar pattern of her life. But I found comfort in the promise of Isaiah: God certainly knew her.

My mother died four years ago, and I believe that the Lord knows her now and has always known her. No matter how lost she was to her children, she was never lost to God who says, "I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands."

Sarah Schaller-Linn (Tennessee, U.S.A.)

Prayer:
Help us, Lord, to know in our hearts when we cannot remember in our minds that we are always and forever in your loving embrace. Amen.
 
Back
Top