Where’s Your Treasure Stored?
I had the sweet privilege of spending the afternoon with my mom yesterday. She turned 80 this past summer. It’s been some years now since any substantive conversation has been a possibility for her since the 2 strokes that attacked some of her cognitive functionality. Yesterday was the first time that I was able to definitively see the signs of the dementia diagnosis she received a few years ago. Although it was shocking to watch her suck out of an empty straw in mid-air unable to comprehend why there was no liquid coming through it, I began to understand the decline that I’d previously attributed to my own inability to understand her “Stroke” language. Realizing her body was with me while her mind was not, I began to ask her questions about things that have been an integral part of her life. I wanted to penetrate the disconnect and find a way to bring her into the present. I tried talking about crafts, her sisters, her grandchildren…. nothing was penetrating. Then I mentioned Tori, my daughter, and her upcoming trip to Paraguay. Her eyes lit up. I’d gotten through. She said over and over again with tears brimming, “God owns her. She just wants to live her life for Him.”
I wasn’t sure why Tori’s name had brought her back to present consciousness. These interactions with Tori would be in her short-term memory, the first thing to go in dementia patients. But as I’ve played our afternoon interactions over in my head this came to me; Mom’s deep and abiding love for God is the pillar that Tori’s name and life were connected to. The rest of the afternoon she was more present. At one point she looked around the room at some of the pretty antiques and collections. She said, “Why did I think that was important? It seemed so important then. I spent so much time on it. What was I thinking?” My mind immediately went to Matthew 6:19 -21
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Yesterday was a lot to process. Today I’m feeling sentimental, and grateful. Grateful for my Dad’s tender care for mom in her last days. Grateful for experiencing first-hand what a rock and strong tower our God is. Grateful for mom’s faith, that even when the body and mind seem to be crumbling, she knows from the inner places of her Spirit the supremacy and worthiness of the Name of Jesus and it steadies her and brings peace. Who knew that an 80 yr old woman struggling with dementia could preach a sermon? The grace of the Lord never ceases to amaze me.
