Caregiver (a.k.a. Gracegiver)

If variety is the spice of life, my job provides seasoning even the folks at McCormick would envy. My title is "Caregiver." It's a vague term and I'm sure the ambiguity was intended by those who coined it. It covers a lengthy job description, including--but not limited to--visiting, shopping, reading, watching TV, putting together puzzles, changing Depends, feeding pets, pushing wheelchairs, giving hugs, scrubbing tubs, vacuuming, dusting, taking walks, cooking, laughing at bad jokes, and eating pie. The last task was added to my repertoire this past Monday, when Mr. and Mrs. W took me to Village Inn and persuaded me to finish off a slice of Lemon Delight. I laugh to think I get paid the same hourly wage to do that as to scour a toilet!

Not only is there variety in my tasks, but also in the people. My clientele is in a constant state of flux. (Right now I have about thirteen clients, about five of which I see regularly.) Besides that, each client is unique--and I love them all! There's the dear 101-year-old deaf lady who will pass an entire afternoon playing teddy bears, coloring pictures and eating chocolates with me. There's the 6'4" man who spent an hour bent over his stool with a snake and shop vac after I managed to flood the bathroom in the process of attempting to clean it. There's the interesting lady who has me massage her feet for 30 minutes while she explains at length all seven of her chronic diseases. Then there's the elderly man who loves to play catch with a beach ball and kisses me goodnight every time I leave. And there's the wealthy lady who suffers from irregular blood pressure, thus prone to fainting and hallucinating about refrigerators moving across the room. That's just a sampling.

Each client is one-of-a-kind and special to me. The one thing they have in common is their desperate need of a Savior--all the more urgent because they are nearing the end of their lives. What an honor it is to represent the Lord Jesus to them! I enjoy my job immensely, but I also take it seriously for that reason. My prayer is that I would be a model of diligence, dependibility, compassion, and joy. May these qualities point to God's grace--a grace so wide that it spans all generations and all circumstances. How badly I wish for these dear people to experience that grace for themselves!