On December 7, we had lived here in our small home for 9 years. We actually thought we'd be here a just short time, but God sure knew what He was doing. When I wasn't thrilled about renting, and we had four babies under 4, I was shown how nice it was to have “someone else” to call for repairs. When I felt claustrophobic at the lack of space, I realized that I was being called to grow internally. And now, as our elderly neighbors are passing into eternity with greater regularity, I am shown how “our being stuck” was really God's way of preparing them.
Late on a recent afternoon, after we rode our bicycles back from the grocery store, I was playing football with two of my children. A dark BMW passed between us, stopped and went into reverse.
My eighty-nine-year-old neighbor, Elvia, whom we have called Auntie Elvia since the oldest could talk, was in the passenger seat. Her husband, Tom, had had a stroke I learned, and would now be living in a nursing facility as Elvia cannot care for him herself. She and Tom have been married 62 years and were never blessed with kids until ours.
When that dark BMW stopped in front of my house, Elvia's nieces were with her. They mentioned how excited they were to meet me and “meet these children that they had heard so much about.” I gave them my phone number should they need anything and as I watched them turn into Elvia's driveway, I gathered my children around me and told them what had happened to Uncle Tom. We agreed we would pray for them and I ask for your prayers as well.
You see, Auntie Elvia, by her own admission, is a “cafeteria Catholic.” When I learned about Tom's stroke, I wasn't sure if Tom practiced any faith or even believed in God.
But later, after her nieces had gone, I spent some time with Elvia and learned that Tom had fallen away from the Church. I took a chance. I asked if I could arrange for him to receive the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. Elvia's answer was a resounding, “Yes!” I came home and called the priest. That night, the priest administered the Sacrament to Tom.
Within those four hours, from the moment I learned of Tom's stroke to when I was able to call the priest, I became acutely aware of how, so unseemingly and unseamingly, God works in our lives… and how the beauty of the young flitting about unaware outside brought joy and grace to the one watching from a window.
And now, as we're losing our neighbors more quickly, I understand why we're still here. It's not because we're “losers,” as we've so often heard from certain family members, but because the Master Musician was working on the heartstrings of one his creations preparing him to join the heavenly choir.
So now, as our hearts prepare for the arrival of the baby Jesus, I realize I have been given a gift. I could not have asked for a better one than the knowledge of our family being an instrument in the lives of Elvia and Tom.
What a gift, indeed.
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Maria Peceli lives in northern California and is a homeschooling mother of four. She loves to sing, write, paint and be completely silly with her family and friends.