You don’t have to understand. Just accept.

There’s a mansion now empty, just waiting for me
At the end of life’s troublesome way
Many friends and dear loved ones will welcome me there
Near the door of that mansion some day

There are some things you’ll never understand. Do you have to?

The singing was robust and pure in typical CoC fashion. The eulogy was touching. The memories were godly.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution,
or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
[Shall Alzheimer’s?]
~ Romans 8:35 

The life being remembered last Friday was the full version of one I only knew in the fog. Mrs. H’s fog. I wanted to hear the funeral words. Get the whole story. See what she was really like.

I was surprised that I wasn’t surprised.

Mrs. H was strong. Intelligent. Hospitable. I had seen all those traits in her, even in Alzheimer’s. It was only the details of her earlier life that were unfamiliar.

We first met in the hall at my mom’s assisted living facility last April. She began our conversation with such intelligence that I wondered if she was only in the shallow end of Alzheimer’s. But the more she talked, the more I realized she was in deep.

I remember watching her sing in the community room. She knew her hymns. And she knew her Word. She carried her Bible with her and could toss in godly comments with the best of them.

Mrs. H’s family was attentive. To her; to Jesus. Top-notch folks. They were already our friends and in-laws of our niece.

On the day of the Mother’s Day Tea last May, her son Tony attended as her escort. It brought us to tears. In a room of mostly women, he stood out—as a man devoted to the woman who raised him. A testimony that her goodness had passed down. To her children. To her grandchildren.

Her son Randy spoke at her funeral Friday. He relayed story after story that proved what a good, strong, Christian woman Mrs. H was.

I wondered: why did such a smart, loving woman like Mrs H get Alzheimer’s? Why did my mom? Why does anyone?

It was answered well at her funeral:

“There are some things you don’t have to understand. Just accept.”

What are the mysteries in your life? You may never understand them. But don’t let that slow you down from accepting and enjoying them as you can.

 For I am sure that neither death nor life, 
…nor anything else in all creation,
[not even Alzheimer’s!]
will be able to separate us from the love of God
in Christ Jesus our Lord.
~ Romans 8:38-9

I sure loved Mrs. H when she wandered up and down the halls looking for her keys. I’m glad she’s found them now. And that her unlocked mansion is no longer empty—Mrs. H is home.

When my labor and toiling have ended below
And my hands shall lie folded in rest
I’ll exchange this old home for a mansion up there
And invite the arch angel as guest

* * *

RELATED:

• My reflections on Alzheimer’s
• No snatching
• Does today count?
• Are you in assisted living too?