Surrounded by Scripture
Last week, my aunt ended her long, painful battle with cancer. I am so grateful to know that she is in heaven with the Lord, where there is no more pain. Though a quiet woman and an introvert, she made a profound impact on many, but even this past week, the example she left made an impact on me.
Of course, whenever someone dies, there is the necessary sorting through of possessions, a clearing out and sifting through memories and emotions as we pack up and clear out the mundane things of a life now finished. In my aunt’s case, much had already been done when she moved into the small apartment at a care facility, but what remained were largely things that mattered to her. As I helped my family begin the process of clearing out her apartment, I noticed a pattern amongst her possessions.
My aunt loved to read and had several bookshelves in her small apartment. Looking through her books, I discovered slips of paper with Bible verses written on them, used as bookmarks or marking something for later reference. A stack of journals by her chair seemed filled mostly with reflections on her Bible reading, and there, too, I found more little slips of paper with verses jotted down. Above her computer desk, she had taped a verse to the shelves overhead—and then taped another one to that, and a third one to that!
Over and over in her little apartment, I encountered verses: some of encouragement, others with cries to the Lord copied from the Psalms, expressing both her struggle and her trust as she suffered along the path of illness God had called her to walk.
The way she surrounded herself with Scripture was both an encouragement and a challenge to me. I could tell by the verses she took time to copy out or jot down that the Word of God was something she clung to. The Bible next to her chair wasn’t just something on a shelf, but a significant part of her daily life. She surrounded herself with Scripture, even in the midst—or more likely because of—her suffering.
I could also see that hers was a growing faith, that she made the effort to study God’s Word, even though she was unwell and probably had to wrestle through her own physical pain and discomfort in order to focus on what she was reading.
My aunt’s accumulated store of scattered Scripture verses resonated with me that day, because it was a reflection of something I have experienced in my own journey with the Lord. I also have jotted down verses to cling to in the midst of struggle and difficulty, have also tucked those verses away where I would see them day by day, and lost track of them as life moved on, only to run across them later and be encouraged all over again as I remembered the solace and hope God brought me through them. —There is something joyous in the kinship of the Christian life, in the experiences we do not realize we share with others until God pulls a curtain back to give us a glimpse into the heart of a fellow believer.
But as much as I was encouraged by my aunt’s tenacious clinging to Scripture, I was also challenged to think about the impact of my life, and the importance of staying consistently close to the Lord, not just in times of crisis, but in the everyday routines of life as well.
Dear Reader, does my aunt’s example challenge you as does me? Is the Holy Spirit pointing out a way in which you can make the Word of God a more prominent part of your everyday life? What kind of example is He preparing for you to leave for the next generation?
“Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Psalm 119:105