Misplaced.

They say most people eventually reconcile with it.

They sit in wheelchairs and stare blankly at the floor. They sit in chairs and stare blankly as you walk passed. On occasion, some walk around the building and stare blankly at other inhabitants. And some just lie in bed, staring blankly at nothing in particular.

Within room 126, there is one such resident.  She’s talkative today, so I keep quiet.

“She used to have long, dark hair. She was pretty. They keep it short now. She weighs over 200 lbs,” the 50-something-year-old woman says, who will remain nameless.

Her opening story today was a new one and had no particular bearing on her current circumstances.

“I wanna go home,” she says. “It’s hard.”

In the four months since I discovered her lying in the cluttered and darkened room, she leaves only for an hour of physical therapy every day and an occasional walk. She has diabetes and is worried about her weight.

“They don’t give you different meals here,” she says. “I don’t eat the bread. If I did I’d weigh over 300 lbs. They give you sandwiches every night. I’ve never had so many sandwiches in my life.”

There was a time when she was too fat to clean herself, she explains.

“My mom had to wipe me when I took a bowel movement. It was embarrassing.”

On the three days a week she gets a shower, the nurses come in with her to help.

“I wanna go home,” she repeats for the third time. “They said it costs $5,000 to fix the house….”

I don’t have the heart to tell her she’ll never go home, so I keep quiet, and she continues on.

“I wish they had found me a day later,” she says. “I wish I’d die. I want to go to heaven. I wish I could go home, and after my mom died, they would find me in my chair dead.”

She starts to cry.

“I’m not supposed to be in a nursing home,” she says. “I’m not supposed to be in a nursing home….”

The story is not new to me. Throughout any local nursing home, they all have a similar story. Most have no one visit and none, they claim, are supposed to be in a nursing home.

The woman lying in room 126 will never leave the nursing home. She is schizophrenic, but you wouldn’t know unless told, and today was a good day.

             

My Knight.

Once upon a time there was a woman.

The woman was very beautiful.

She was like many others.

She lived in a dark, dangerous, and evil place.

The woman was very sad because so many things were not well.

She couldn't finish her chores, meet everyone's needs, and do what she wanted, for the people in the place where she lived we're unkind and took advantage of her.

The woman climbed the stairs to her room. She sat on her bed and soon began to cry.

***

It's a new year. 2010.

Fresh beginnings and new starts.

Every year, people across the world are making their New Year resolutions.

To lose weight. To go to church more. To do better in school….the list goes on and on and on.

I used to have a New Year resolution.

But they never worked. So I stopped. I realized something in the midst of not fulfilling my 2009 commitment.

I can't do anything without God. And He doesn't want me to.

Yes, I know, this is a simple theory. However, in my life, the simplest theories are so seldom put into practice.

I pray for people, my family, my classes, even my spiritual growth. I hardly ever pray for my resolution, which happens to be the same unfulfilled resolution every year.

Life, when you get right down to it, is simple.

God loves us. So very, very much. He wants to see us happy. He wants to see us make our New Year's resolutions.

Unfortunately, life is not only simple but also hard.

The world makes it hard to keep those New Year commitments. I can't (and haven't) succeed because I haven't asked God to help.

Such a simple concept.

When life gets tough and my 2010 commitment seems to fall apart, God can put it back together.

God is loving, forgiving, kind, gentle, good, and patient. He's been waiting on me to ask.

***

Somewhere down the stairs, the evil people who lived in the house began to make a commotion.

The woman was still upset, so she assumed it was the guest who just arrived.

The woman moved from the bed and walked over to her desk, where she kept her bible.

God had seemed so distant, she thought to herself as she flipped the pages. She opened to the Old Testament.


"...and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me." Psalms 50:15



"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6



"But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40:31



"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze." Isaiah 43:2


She moved to Jeremiah. Despite the comfort the verses gave her, she was still upset. She said a quick prayer and moved to Jeremiah 29:11.

The people downstairs clamored even louder. She wondered what was going on.

Someone knocked on the door.

"Ummm…yes"? She asked the man who stood at the door.

She hadn't seen him before. It was very quiet at the bottom of the stairs.

"I heard you were upset," the man replied. "I"m here to rescue you."

He seemed sweet, she thought to herself. For some reason she trusted him.

"What's your name and how did you know"? She asked.

"My name is Jesus, and I know all about you. I love you."

"Oh…," the woman said. "Thank you."

The man grabbed her hand, leading her down the stairs. The mean people had disappeared.

"You don't need to worry," he said, noticing her concern. "I'm with you. You'll be fine."

He walked down the walkway outside the house and helped her on to his white horse.

***

In 2010, I hope I can remember that Jesus is my knight in shinning armor. :)