Love is being care-full

Recently attended a funeral. I had never met the person who passed away. I attended the funeral with 4 of her adult children who live in an adult care facility. They were a few of the over 300 foster children that this woman had cared for in throughout the 92 years of her life. I thought to myself about how unique this woman was yet she lived a quiet, ordinary life. As I watched people file into the room, I noticed many other "special needs" adults who had once been cared for by this amazing lady. As I watched, many children (in their 40s and 50s) greet each other with tears and remembrances, I began to focus on the people that had come in with them. I watched the "care-givers", the foster parents, those who provided sheltered work environments and those whom God had brought in their lives just to be a friend.

I share a kinship with these wonderful people, because I was blessed to share my life with my sister, Sherry, who had down's syndrome. Her presence in our lives taught us about many of the amazing shades and colors of life that many people miss. I had experienced the loss of my sister and how great a loss it was to our family and her friends. Now I have seen how God can walk through life and death experiences with those who struggle to deal with daily life and show them how to do what we all should be doing.... loving one another. Their "mother" understood this about life. She cared for others, not just as an emotion, but as a verb. She fed, clothed and took care of the physical needs of all of those children who would have had no one. She also cared for them emotionally, by spending time and listening. When she could no longer take care of herself, she moved into the same care facility where her children lived so she could see and care for them as much as she was able. She loved them and they loved her.

When Jesus said the second greatest commandment was to love each other, I think this is what He had in mind and how we need people like Sherry and other "special people" to teach us the way. What a wonderful legacy.