The Parking Lot...

A funny thing happened yesterday morning as I finished loading my groceries into the back seat of my car.  I had been thinking about Piper while I traversed the aisles in my local Super Walmart, in fact, it was almost like we had been shopping together…

In previous years before moving to Oklahoma in 2006, Piper and I used to go grocery shopping together with the kids or many times, when they got older, by ourselves.  You talk about a romantic interlude at Food For Less and then Food Max… Hey… I’d take time with my wife anyway I could!  Usually I would play the role of her Gofer in order to help the shopping experience to be accomplished with more efficiency.  One thing I have to say about Piper, was that she knew that store well.  She’d send me off on an errand to grab a box of this or a package of that and not only tell me the aisle number but also the bin location and the shelf in that bin!  

She also knew where all the bargains were in the store.  For instance, she learned that some things, like a few of the particular spices that she enjoyed cooking with, were cheaper in the Hispanic food section than the one’s in the name brand areas of the store.  Looking back, it’s interesting to remember that she had such a sharp mind and memory and never seemed to lose her cool when the store was crowded or when they were out of a product she was looking for.  To see that special ability being stolen from her with the onset of Alzheimer’s was one of the many difficult parts of her final years.

Those final years were exactly what I had been thinking about as I walked out to the car after shopping yesterday.  And by the time I had unloaded my basket and closed the back door on the car, I was suddenly struck with the vivid picture of how Piper looked the day before she passed.  I stood there next to the car and stared up into the heavens and began to thank the Lord for helping me to have the ability to see past the physical as her features deteriorated and look into her heart to see the REAL Piper who was still there on the inside.

To this day, it still surprises me to look at pictures showing how much her beautiful features changed over time.  But I NEVER dwelt on it at the time because I was so focused on God’s LOVE and His PEACE.  Early this morning before day break, I laid in bed and began to think about the attributes of God’s LOVE and His PEACE.  It dawned on me that they are the only fruit of the Spirit that the Bible talks about (See: Galatians 5:22-23) that have the ability to take a believer “far beyond any knowledge” (Ephesians 3:19 God’s Word ©) or “passeth all understanding” (Philippians 4:7 KJV)  Think about that for a moment!  When we enter into active participation with the LOVE and PEACE of God, we can gain the ability to trust in something more powerful than what our senses are telling us concerning any situation in life!  We can see and act BEYOND the limitations of our natural minds!

How else can I explain the way that I saw Piper throughout her eight plus year ordeal.  The Lord helped me to see beyond what was happening with her physical body.  I learned to concentrate on what His Word was telling me and not listen to my senses nor to the fears of people around us.  I remember an incident following a fall that Piper had taken.  I had brought her to the hospital the day following the spill because her hip was beginning to turn a lovely shade of black and blue and it was obvious that she was uncomfortable.  I was concerned thinking that she may have broken her hip, but thank God, it was only a bruised hip.  In a conversation about the results of our hospital visit with someone, I was more than a little miffed when the individual’s comment was a bland “Oh, the poor thing!”  My indignation stemmed from my point of mind that Piper was neither POOR nor just a THING!

It was obvious that this individual and I had a totally different view of the condition of my wife.  I saw Piper as I believed the Word saw her…  I thought back, as I stood in the Walmart parking lot yesterday, of how decimated her body looked as my daughter and I helped the nurse to gently turn her over in bed the day before she left us and it brought me to tears.  But it’s not the picture of how I REALLY saw her back then, nor choose to remember now.  In fact, I had a dream about her last night where I had entered into a crowded room of people and IMMEDIATELY noticed my wife in the midst of the throng of people present.  Then she turned, looked at me and walked over to me… and let me tell you… SHE LOOKED GREAT… just as she did as I pictured her in my spirit, throughout the final years of her physical life.

You don’t have to convince me about having the ability to go far beyond any natural intellect or knowledge when it comes to experiencing the promises of God!  How about you?

Choose today to Let His LOVE and His PEACE take you beyond the limitations of your natural intellect… then, say with me… “I am expecting to see things as God sees them today!”