MY FRIEND ETHEL...

As time allowed evening would find me treading down the winding path, curving slightly around the main house and leading to the side door— surrounding woods kept it private and hidden from neighbors curious glance or salesmen’s rhetoric.

My friend Ethel, she was always there waiting to hear the details of my day, the people I had met and the needs they had shared with me for prayer and together we prayed.   She was 85 years young when she entered my life and for the next ten + years a joy to my heart and strength to my soul. 

Growing up in leaner times, as a young child she lived in the farmlands of Illinois and grew to become a young woman whose heart of compassion led her into the career of Visiting Nurse.   She shared her stories of families and those she served.  She stood tall and straight and carried herself with the dignity of those who knew the value of hard work, loyalty and love of God and country.  She was Brethren by religion and staunch in her knowledge of the Holy.   Not unfamiliar with long hours and strong sense of commitment she became a farmer’s wife, a good man, but not having salvation in Jesus Christ.  She was full of stories of her life of faith, and shared her story of how her little son became ill and nothing the doctors could do seemed to help.  Her prayer she said was, ”Lord if by your mercy my son’s passing would be my husband’s salvation then so be it”----and it was.  A shock to most human hearts but, it was of such faith she lived. 

Her nurses training included reflexology and prepared her for this later season of life.  Now a widow and crossing my path, she accompanied me to the City Mission for homeless women.   Week after week she knelt before the homeless drug addicts, prostitutes and those just lost in the jungle of city living, massaging their feet and sharing the love of God. 

She lived her final days quietly and joyfully serving others in the nursing home where she herself was a resident.  Pushing those unable to walk into the sunny garden, writing their notes home,  talking and sharing with them as she had me—a life lived in quiet humility unaware of its profound impact on those who received her love.  Ethel passed full of years at 101.

If I could do one thing for her I would reveal how she blessed my life, I would visit the halls of heaven with her to see the influence she had on the world.