They all ate and were satisfied. ~ Mark 6:42 (NIV)
Sometimes I visit the Valley Inn late at night to check in on a resident. During the day, the hallways are full of nurses, therapists, visitors, and residents. The Inn is a hive of activity, but at night, after everyone goes to sleep, usually quite early, the Inn is very quiet, still, and peaceful.
I especially enjoy the nights when the snow is falling outside, and the warmth of the Inn permeates the air that all who enter breathe. There is a library just inside the entry way on the right. Prior to the pandemic, I would always see Marsha, a long-term resident, and a member of our church, working on a jigsaw puzzle in the library. I would wave as I walked by, and Marsha would smile back at me.
After I made a call on a resident, I would stop and talk with Marsha who suffered from grand mal seizures since childhood. Her parents had died, and her sister was unable to provide all the care that Marsha needed so she lived at the Valley Inn. Luckily, I only saw Marsha have one of her seizures.
“Marsha, how long do you stay up working on a puzzle?” “Until I get tired. Sometimes I go to bed at midnight. Sometimes I go to sleep at one or two in the morning. I don’t have to get up in the morning.” I always marveled at how Marsha could look for one puzzle piece for countless minutes. “I have time!” she said with a grin, and Marsha had an ebullient joy that I could only long for.
One night I walked into the Inn, and Marsha was working on a puzzle like always, but a male resident was with her. I waved and Marsha blushed. Before long, Marsha and Lester were playing bingo together, eating lunch, and attending our church services as a couple.
Marsha had a difficult time feeding herself so Lester would assist her. He would gently give her a spoonful of macaroni and cheese and then he would eat a spoonful himself. He would wipe her mouth with a napkin and hold her drink cup as she drank from a straw. And the whole time, during this laborious process, they would look adoringly at each other, deeply satisfied.
They had absolutely nothing, yet they had everything. Heart speaks to heart. “Tender glance meets tender glance. Behold the One holding you and smiling,” says Father Greg Boyle.
Who holds us? What cup do we drink from? Do we know the tenderness of God? Are we full? Satisfied? Or are we longing for more?
After a few months, Marsha and Lester told me they were getting married and they asked me to officiate at their wedding. I said, “Yes, I would love to.” Marsha did jigsaw puzzles with five hundred pieces or more, and I had about five hundred and one reasons why they should not get married. It was too soon, reckless. Neither one of them was in good health.
“If we’re only married a day or a month, I’ll be happy, Craig. I realize we could die soon,” Marsha told me. “I’ve never been married. I never thought I’d get married, and here I am. I love Lester so much.” She was a giddy bride, and Lester just chuckled as much as he could since he had had a stroke.
Marsha and Lester had nothing to hide. Their brokenness was visible for all to see. They did puzzles together and talked late into the night. Lester fed Marsha dessert, and she shared her joy with him. They were satisfied; they had enough. “I make myself rich by making my wants few,” wrote Thoreau.
When do we have enough? When are we satisfied?
We have enough when “we focus our heart not on what we need, but rather on what we have. When we are attentive and awake, a single breath can fill us to overflowing. The touch of a loved one, a particular angle of sunlight can bring delight to our hearts. The simple gesture of someone’s hand resting in our own, a taste of honey, or a strain of melody can give birth to quiet satisfaction, a sense of enough,” says Wayne Muller in Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in Our Busy Lives.
Marsha and Lester got married in our church, and there was not a dry eye in the place as they sat down and said their vows to each other. Afterword, the newlyweds held their reception at the Valley Inn, and I watched as Lester tenderly fed Marsha chocolate cake.
They were full. In their brokenness, they found an intimacy born from God’s Grace.
I am sure they are the first newlyweds to spend their honeymoon at the Valley Inn. After friends and staff left the wedding party and after the Inn gets incredibly quiet at night, I hope Marsha and Lester snuck out of their honeymoon suite and went to their quiet room to work on a crossword puzzle together in the stillness.
May we drink and eat from the well of Grace, and May it satisfy the longings of our souls.
Blessings and peace,
Craig