“NINI”
Listen To My Heart
There are things I must Share.

           “Alzheimer.” I thought about this word this morning and wondered if it had another meaning. I don’t think Nini had Alzheimer, but I feel quite sure now that she did have All-Timers. Have you ever wondered what people are going through when they have been diagnosed as having Alzheimer? There may be another way to look at this.
           As I watched my husband’s small Grandma Nini walking as fast as her little legs would carry her down a back road in Matagorda, Texas, the canal on her right, and the local café straight ahead, I knew she was upset.   
         “Nini. Nini,” I called as I raced behind her trying to catch up. “Wait for me.”
         She never heard me. She was going somewhere. She was going to a place that was familiar to her; where she was comfortable and felt loved and understood. To her, that day, it was the café.
         Someone back at the house had said something that upset her. And I think her very thoughts were: “Why can’t people understand me? They just don’t understand.”
         I don’t think what people have labeled as Alzheimer is anything new. Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 says:

         To Everything there is a season,
         And a time to every purpose under the heaven.
         A time to be born, and a time to die;
         A time to plant, and a time to pluck up
         That which is planted.

         Nini had been planted by God for a purpose and for a season. She’s in Heaven now, but while here, she loved God and His Word. She did the best she could to tell her family about Jesus and was faithful to pray for all of them.
         Ecclesiastes 3:13, 22 speaks that every man (woman) should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of their labor; that it is a gift of God and His portion to them.
         “For in much wisdom is much grief, and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.” Ecclesiastes 1:18
         All of these verses this morning made me think of Nini. Oh, what sorrow to have learned so much in her life, to have given so much, to have cared and loved so much, then not be understood by those who forgot what she had done for them. 
         Nini knew she was getting old, but her spirit wasn’t, and it upset her that others couldn’t see her as she had learned to see herself. Not the lady in the mirror, but the young woman in her heart.
         She had read Psalm 37:25. “I have been young, and now I am old….”
And she probably thought about what Jesus said to Peter and wondered if it could be meant for her, too.
         “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.” (John 21:18).
         Ecclesiastes 2:9 says: “My wisdom remains with me.”
         Perhaps I’m just asking you to look at All-Timers…as a person who has moved on into this season of life: some sooner than others. The world has an explanation for it in medical terms but not nearly so well as God can in His Word.
         People say the first signs are that their loved ones no longer have short term memory, but can only remember things of the past. What a blessing. They have chosen to hold on to the important things in their lives; those things that remain and are meant to be shared with others, especially their children and grandchildren.
         What a wealth of clear vision we are passing up when we fail to listen and acknowledge their lives as having been very important. God grant us the ability to see them as they now see themselves…their eternal spirits who will soon receive new bodies.
         Why do they act out and become frustrated? It’s because no one will listen to them and show them the respect of winners who have run a great race. Falling sometimes, yes, but remembering now the substance and the milestones of their races.
         “Doesn’t anyone want to hear?” they may ask. “I learned so much! I want to share it with those who have ‘ears to hear’. Not those who patronize me, treat me like a child, think I am crazy. I have valuable information. If they will just hear with their hearts…they will see me when I was a child, a vivacious business man, a young wife and mother, an intelligent teacher. They can walk through the high points of my life with me. They can learn of their heritage.
         “This is a wonderful stage of my life. I am not old like my body. My spirit is eternally young and when this body is gone…will they recognize me by my spirit in Heaven? Or will they be looking for an old body that is often cranky and acting out because few has ‘Ears to Hear’. No, I’ll have a new body to match my young spirit. Will they recognize me? Some will, because they could see my eternal youth as I told them many experiences of my time on earth.”

         “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” (Matthew 11;15).

         I began to see nursing homes, old-folks homes, hospitals, private homes, hospice homes…all kinds of places where people might be in this stage of their life. I saw them now in a new light. Literally like a Bright Light glowing from these places and institutions, that the world as a whole has not seen. Some have, but now God is showing me. Thank You Lord.
         Like a dome putting forth a great light and inside all the Treasures of Wisdom like nuggets of gold, that lie untouched, just waiting to be shared as someone’s harvest.

WISDOM
WILL WE LISTEN?

         This Fresh Bread is not to place a guilt trip on anyone. Nor to tell you to go out and minister to the old folks, unless the Lord calls you to do so. It’s just to make us aware of the golden nuggets of wisdom should we find ourselves in their presence. May we listen with sincere respect…as we walk the old, solid (for them) paths they would like to have us walk with them on a given day.
         Then when it comes time for our children and grandchildren to walk our old paths with us, we will have twice as much to share.

         “Thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the ways and SEE, and ASK for the

OLD PATHS, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.” (Jeremiah 6:16).

REMEMBER

YES…REMEMBER

           These people have retained the important things. Listen to them! Hear what the Lord wants to share with you. They are no longer impressed by the clutter of this world, they only hold on to the things that Remain.

SO SHOULD WE