"You Made My Day," She Said--and She Made Mine

"Her meds have been changed," the pastor's wife told me, and the new meds seem to be doing a number on our friend "Beaver" at the nursing home. Sunday after church Jonathan and I decided to go visit our friend at the nursing home. Danny made a quick trip home to retrieve my autoharp, and Jonathan and I drove slowly down the street. We were welcomed into the nursing home where a movie was being shown in the front room.

After checking in first at the nurse's station as required and then visiting with a new resident who was related to a friend at church, we found "Beaver's" room. There she was, slumped in her wheel chair--body language sad and lonely. As soon as we came into her room, she perked up, asking for the remote so she could turn off the movie screen.

What a precious time we had together! We asked if she'd like us to sing for her, having already decided that "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" would be our first go-to. Wouldn't she go and say, "What a Friend We Have in Jesus!" Then she asked, "Do you know 'This is the Day'?" And so we sang that with her trying to sing along. We sang "Savior Like a Shepherd Lead Us" which she didn't seem to know and as she looked a bit grumpy all of a sudden, we only sang two verses. Then I sang "Shepherd of Love," by John Peterson, a favorite of my friends in Ukraine years ago, and she asked for the music. I was about to say I had to keep it and would make a copy, but discovered I had a double in my autoharp case, so I gave her the words which she stowed in her drawer. 

She told us, "You made my day! I was so depressed. I was down." She asked about our children and I told about Danny fighting the fire the night before and the girls working. Then she practically whacks Jonathan on the belly and asks, "What do you do?" He did not understand her slurred words, so she added, "Do you work?" So he explained his work and I added more details about how he fixes homes on the reservation. Then she asked if she could borrow five dollars. We himhawed, hemmed and hawed. When Jonathan looked at me with this helpless look that said, "What do I do?" I said I didn't have any on me, and then we asked what she wanted it for. She said, "Store." We found out the nursing home has a "store." I asked what she wanted at the store. As guilelessly as a child, she says, "Junk food." We laughed and laughed. I asked her what junk food she wanted, and she says, "Red Bull." 

Such a smile on her face!

Hmm. Now what do we do? She'd not been doing well with med changes. I asked if she was diabetic. No. "How much does a Red Bull cost?" Jonathan asked. She held up three fingers. Jonathan still stalled. I suggested we go to the "store" to see. So down the hall we traipse, us pushing her in her wheel chair and realizing it was Sunday, and now what do we do? Well, come to find out, the "store" is only open Monday through Friday." A man near the nurse's station who answered about it said, "You have to fast today." So back to her room we went. God got us out of that one!

We prayed with our friend and promised we'd try to be back before long. 

We made her day, she'd told us.

Well, she made my day, too. 

To brighten someone's lonely day and know we've made her day just makes my own.

And yet, when it boils down to it, the little chorus she wanted us to sing was the biggest truth. 
"This is the day,

this is the day

that the Lord has made."

It is the Lord Who makes our day. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

And if we find someone slumped over in their misery, loneliness, and pain, let's do something about it, until even they can whisper, "This is the day that the Lord has made."