Never judge a book…..

You know the old saying “never judge a book by its cover”? I have learned in many ways the truth of that statement.

One such experience occurred when I delivered shoes to a patient near Blythe Island, Georgia. I was working for Liberty Medical at the time and so I only delivered shoes which had been ordered through Liberty’s office. These patients that I served in various parts of the country I rarely saw more than one time. This was one of those times, but one that I will never forget.

I drove up to a magnificent riverside colonial mansion, one you might read about in a novel. I walked up the stairs and looked around at the perfectly manicured landscaping while I was breathing in the salty air. Wow, I thought, now these people were soooo lucky!!

An impeccably dressed and recently coifed elderly woman came to the door and invited me in. I followed her to a table in a beautifully furnished “sitting” room overlooking a wide section of a river fed from the Atlantic Ocean between Brunswick and Jekyll Island. I complimented her home and its beauty and she told me that her staff was excellent. As always, I looked around for something which would spark general conversation while I fit her shoes and molded her orthotic inserts. I saw a family picture of what appeared to be her, her husband, one grown daughter and one grown son. I told her that she had a beautiful family.

She then told me that she had lost her son in the Vietnam War years earlier. She went on to tell me that she had buried her husband the year before. The night of her husband’s burial she and her daughter were sitting at this exact table when her daughter’s head hit the wood and she died instantly from a brain aneurism. My patient did not cry although I did. I should have been the one comforting her, but she was attempting to console me as she spoke about how “lucky” she was in that she might have lost her family but look at what she had; beautiful memories of each of them. She remarked that some people are never lucky enough to know the love her family shared. She spoke about how this house was way too big for her, but she would never leave because this was where she could remember the many good times she had while her family was still with her.

She was filled with joyful stories and spoke with such anticipation as she told me that she couldn’t wait to join them again one day. She trusted God and knew that He was not finished with her yet. She had more to do.

And she did. She had to teach me a valuable lesson. Things are not always what they seem on the surface. I would like to think I could have the kind of strength she exhibited that day, but I’m not so sure. I pray I never have to find out.