I went to visit Eulah after our ministry yesterday. She’s been one of the seniors who’ve been there from the very beginning. She has been in that convalescent home for five years since we started going there, and possibly longer. I’m sure that I have written about Eulah several times before because I have to admit that I have gotten a little attached to her.

Eulah’s daughter came to visit us one time from Texas. She was one of those people who look like they’ve had a bit of rebellion in their life. I can’t explain it, but I just had that sense about her. She got so excited after our ministry because she thought it was so great. She had been shocked when Eulah, who is paralyzed on one side and can’t speak, sang the words to all the songs. She explained that Eulah had the been the wife of a pastor and she told us that my husband looked like her brother.

The last time I saw that particular daughter was about a month ago. I had talked to her earlier and told her that I was so happy that she had come and she told me that she had moved there from Texas. I expressed my joy at her being here and told her that we’d love to see her back here anytime. She attended our service that day and got so emotional during the song “People Get Ready” that she had to leave. I didn’t know why, but she left in tears.

A couple of years ago, when we had a nativity service there, we brought a plastic light-up nativity set with us. Eulah wheeled her wheelchair up to the nativity set and just took it in with her eyes. You could tell that it gave her peace just to look at it. I took her hand and stood there with her. I had a lot of moments like that with her. I can’t explain it, but I just knew how she was feeling and sometimes I would put it into words for her.

Whenever we haven’t seen Eulah for a while, we worry, but she often came in late and would shimmy her wheelchair up to the front to be closer. She would wave with her good arm and smile the loveliest smile. Eulah has a lot of spunk. If someone bumped her wheelchair, she’d let them know that that wasn’t right. It was kind of funny. We used to laugh about it.

Last month, we hadn’t seen Eulah and we started asking about her. One of the other seniors that we know told us that Eulah had had some hard times. The daughter who had just moved there from Texas had died. Her other daughter had recently lost her husband and hadn’t visited Eulah for a long time. Eulah had known that something was wrong because she didn’t pick up her laundry as usual for quite a while and it had sent her into a tailspin. That’s how I found Eulah yesterday.

She lay in her bed silent but not sleeping as I came in to speak with her. She opened her eyes, but didn’t try to speak as she might’ve in the past. I went to her and smoothed back the hair on her head and I told her I had heard about her hard times. I told her I was going to pray with her, and she looked at me. I saw a flicker of recognition in her eyes. I prayed and cried at the same time, but afterward I thought that she was thankful. I don’t know, maybe it was the other way around. Maybe I was grateful to Eulah for showing me what real strength is.

These seniors suffer a lot of losses at their age. Many of them outlive their own children. They have lost their homes, their health, and often their dignity. They cling to the small amount of love that they get from other people and it must not come very often because they cling to the small amount of kindness that we give. We don’t do a lot, but when I offer my hand to someone, I feel them cling to it. Like the lady who wheeled her chair right up to me yesterday while I was giving my message. She just wanted to hold my hand and so I just kept giving the message–one-handed.