Significance...In the World Order

The sun’s rays slant through the blinds, washing her room in a soft, golden glow. The folds of the covers haven’t moved since her caretaker pulled them up around her neck the night before. Although severely paralyzed, Diane is keenly aware of her surroundings in the home where she lives. She can tell that her friend has been awake for a while.

“Are you ready to get up yet?”

“No…not yet,” comes Diane’s weak reply from under the covers.

“I’ll be back in about 20 minutes to see if you’re ready to get up,” her friend tells her as she clicks the door shut.

The story is the same each dawn of each new day at Diane’s apartment. The routine rarely changes. Sunrise stretches into mid-morning by the time Diane is ready to sit up in her wheelchair. But, those long hours in bed are significant.

In her quiet sanctuary, Diane turns her head slightly on her pillow toward the message board on the wall. Her eyes scan each card & list; each photo; every torn piece of paper & sticky-note, carefully pinned to that board. The stillness is broken as Diane begins to murmur. Because, you see, she is praying.

Many would look at Diane…stiff & motionless…and shake their heads. She has to be fed everything, pushed everywhere. The creeping limitations of Multiple Sclerosis encroach further each year. Her fingers are curled & rigid. Her voice is barely a whisper. People look at her and say, “What a shame. Her life has no meaning. She can’t do anything.”

But, Diane is confident. She lives with the certainty that her life is significant; that her labor of prayer counts.

She moves mountains that block the paths of missionaries. She helps open the eyes of the spiritually blind in Southeast Asia. She pushes back the kingdom of darkness that blackens the alleys & streets among the gangs in East L.A.

She aids homeless mothers…single parents…abused & handicapped children…despondent teenagers… and the forgotten old people in the nursing home down the street where she lives.

Diane is a lone prayer warrior, in the battlement of her room on Sycamore Street. She is advancing the Gospel of Christ, holding up weak saints, inspiring doubting believers, energizing other prayer warriors…and delighting her Lord & Savior.

Fearless & determined, this quiet lady is confident of her place in the world. It doesn’t matter that others do not recognize her significance in the grand scheme of things. In fact, she’s much like “Emily” in Our Town, who signs her address: Grovers Corners…New Hampshire…the United States of America…Western Hemisphere…Planet Earth…Solar System…The Universe…The Mind of God.

In the mind of God. That’s about as significant as you can get; whether you sit at a computer, behind the wheel of a bus, at a desk in a classroom, in a chair by your kitchen table…or lie in a bed & pray. Your life is hidden with Christ. You enrich His inheritance. You are His ambassador. In Him, your life has depth, meaning and purpose; no matter what you do.

Someone has said, “The point of life…is to become the person that God can love perfectly; to satisfy His thirst to love. That is why being counts more than doing…the singer more than the song…the soul more than the person we see.