I have to share something with you that fits one of the things we studied in our last visit, “helping the week.” In an issue of Christianity Today a few years ago Robertson McQuilkin was interviewed about caring for his wife who had Alzheimer’s for 25 years.
When asked, “What did caring for your wife teach you about the Christian life?”
He answered: “Since I’ve tried to bring my choices under the authority of Scripture, I didn’t have struggles about what to do. As I told the students when I resigned from being president of ColumbiaInternationalUniversity, this was one of the easiest decisions I ever made. But did I learn things? Yes.
“For example, one day I was ministering to Muriel, taking care of her, and I said, ‘Honey, you’re the luckiest girl on earth. You don’t have a worry in the world. You don’t have anything to plan; everything is provided for you. Why, you don’t even have any guilt; you don’t have any sin to repent of.’ At any rate, I would love her, but she couldn’t love me back, and that’s a painful thing.
“As I was leaning over her that day, I thought, ‘Lord, is that the way it is between you and me? You pouring out your love and care so consciously, and what do you get back – a brief salute in the morning, we connect, grumbling when I don’t get what I want, when you don’t do it the way I like?’ How sad – sad for Him.”
What I’ve found over the years is that when I help someone who is week, I learn something about my own deficiencies, especially in my relationship with God. And in reality, by helping the week, I am helped far more.
