One of the lady’s at the nursing home was being feisty today.
Who’s the boss lady?!?
What’s a woman gotta do to eat around here?
She came walking through the cafeteria and wanted to address the group.
One of our more outgoing chapel goers tried to get her to quiet down and join us. Her loud reply was:
Listen here, lady, I own this place!
At this point, I stifled my urge to laugh and stepped into the situation.
All I did was walk over to my new friend, stretch out my hand, and ask her to take a walk with me.
We strolled to the nurses station where my friend was given a banana to snack on until dinner time.
She walked happily back towards her room, greeting (very loudly) everyone she met.
Obviously my boisterous new friend has a touch of dementia, but what I saw the most was her loneliness and desire to be understood.
She smiled at me the whole time we were walking and she did not want to let go of my hand.
Most of my friends at the nursing home never have visitors, yet they ask for prayer for their family members.
Whenever I get an opportunity to pray with my friends, I make it a point to ask the Father to show them how much He loves them that week. I ask Him to whisper in their ear, “You’re never alone.”
I am glad my friend interrupted chapel today.
It was a good reminder to me that my job is to help others–no matter how cantankerous they’re acting.