Rosalinda’s windows to Spirit
Rosalinda, the sweetheart of my Meals on Wheels route, offers limitless examples of windows to Spirit.
Windows to Spirit
Rosalinda suffers rheumatoid arthritis in the most severe form I can imagine. She lives in a small house with a very tiny front room. Almost all her time is in a bed against the front wall of that room. The bed is her operations base.
Unable to sit without support, Rosalinda lies and lives on that bed. She surrounds herself with everything she ever needs: remote controls, wireless phone, back scratcher, extendable claw to reach what’s out of reach, packages of plastic ware, bottled water, her Bible. She is so tiny there is room for all of that, and more.
Rosalinda requires assistance to leave the bed, to sit in her motorized scooter, and to return to the bed. Her hands can barely grasp a plastic fork. Simple acts like placing the phone in its charger stand or plugging in her scooter’s motor are beyond her ability.
This week when I knocked on her door and loudly announced, “Meals on Wheels!”, her voice doubled mine in cheerfulness. “I’m so glad you’re here! Come right in!”
As I entered, she was smiling and jumped into conversation about her favorite team losing its game the day before, being eliminated from the playoffs. With unabashed optimism on so many levels, she claimed, “No problem! There’s always next year!”
After I put parts of her meal in the refrigerator, swapped the phone on her bed for one fully charged, and plugged in her scooter, she asked if it was sunny outside. Her front room has one window beside her bed and one in the wall behind her. The drapes are heavy, and the room is often in shadow that is heavy, too.
I told her it was. Rosalinda asked me to part the curtains. “…but just a little near the top. It’s so nice to watch the sunlight march across the room. It makes a fine line of gold from that side of my room, all the way across until it shines off the doorknob.” Her tiny hand waved an arc to signify the sun ray’s path. Her smile was sunshine-filled even before I carefully opened the curtains.
As I opened them, I felt Spirit flow through Rosalinda’s windows. They were true windows to Spirit. I felt it fill her and radiate back to everything, everyone she encountered. I felt such a tremendous blessing.
Prayers to open our windows to Spirit
Sweet Spirit,thank you that I know to open the window,
the window through which you flow
and through which all Love and Peace and Joy flow.
I gladly forgive myself
for too often closing that window
by thinking and focusing and engaging too much
in what I create in my human mind.
In my mind I build obstacles,
I dig potholes, and I create hurdles that I think I need
to get around, wade through, or climb over.
In truth, there is not even a window between us.
There is nothing between us, neither window nor wall.
Spirit, my heart is my window to you, to Spirit.
I thank you that it is always open, always filled by you.
And so it is. And so I celebrate the Christ Spirit in me.
Amen.
Love and blessings,
18 January 2019
In: Authenticity, Faith, Grace, Prayer, Spirituality
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