“Excuse me” I hear.

I turn and don’t recognize the person. We have been trained to know when an intruder is in the midst.

I cautiously walk toward her. She is holding an ancient phone with a way too long cord wrapped around.

“Do you know if anyone can use this?” she says with a shaky voice.

“Ummm..” I stutter, unsure of the answer, my mind going 7000 miles a minute, attempting to assess the situation.

I glance at the room number and then look into her eyes and suddenly I know.

He eyes, glassed over and red around the rim. She is doing the bravest thing I’ve ever witnessed (and all on her own).

She is cleaning out her deceased mother’s room.

I can’t imagine the chaos of emotions she is experiencing, sorting through all her things.

I take the phone and assure her that someone can use it, even when I know no one will.

“I’m so sorry, I’m proud of you” I say. Her eyes soften and tears well up. “Thank you” she replies.

Per my usual, I go too far and ask her if she needs a hug. She shakes her head, looks downward and fakes a smile as she shuts the door.

I regret my last decision but I don’t let that lie consume me. What if she did? It may have mattered. I continue with my activities, all the while thinking of her in that room.

My hope is that she said everything she wanted to say, that she felt loved and cherished and that her tears were tears of grief and not regret.

While I know, we will always have many regrets, I’m confident that her tears were representation of the fact that whatever her mother needed to know, she did, and most certainly now, because she is in the arms of Jesus. She can now see all things clearly.

Time doesn’t actually stop, even though it may seem that way to those of us that are left here, and we feel that separation physically because we are physical beings, restricted by time and space.

BUT God’s amazing power defies time and space.

His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts. What an amazing gift!

#thisisnotourhome #death #life #heaven #home #joy #love #ifjustone