The Old Scarf Lady
Pastor Barrett was very tired. It was an unusually busy Christmas season this year at his church and he was spending a great deal of it out of sorts with those around him. As he left his office, he made sure everything was neat and in order. He was almost always the last to leave, so he made certain the building was locked and secured for the night. A situation had recently developed that he was going to have to deal with: the old woman had become a nuisance, rattling her way between the pews, waving her scarves about. He wasn't going to turn anyone away, but she must be a lot quieter. And, he added another thought, she would simply have to choose some other time for her visits--this was his time to be alone in the beautiful new sanctuary at his church. Surely enough, there she was, in the second row. She showed up several times a week, just about going-home time for him. He watched as she knelt. He waited for the rattle of the bag which would signify the start of her scarf act. It was time for him to put a stop to this! Suddenly, she seemed to sense his presence. It startled her--she grabbed her coat and scurried on her knees some distance from him before struggling to her feet and hurrying away. He noticed she had left her things behind as he called to her, "Wait! I want to talk to you." She ignored him and as he turned to look at her things, he heard the side door slam shut. He reached for the scarves and gingerly stuffed them back into the bag. He fumed that she had once again interfered with his time of meditation, then he, too, left the church after tossing the bag onto his secretary's desk. The next morning as he left to make his obligatory visits to the nursing homes in the area, he instructed his secretary to find out if the old woman was a resident of the mission or any of the institutions in their city. After several brief stops, he arrived at the Cornerstone Rehab Center. He described the old woman to the nursing director, Martha Banks. She invited him into her office and rummaged through her files, bringing out a picture to show him. "Could this be the woman you're talking about?" she asked. At first glance, he almost laughed; the woman in the picture was well-dressed, her face lovely. When he looked back up, Miss Banks was nodding yes to the questions she saw on his face. "But how could there be such a difference? How old is this picture?" "From what we can find out, it was taken about four or five years ago. Mary lives in a cottage on my property. When I first met her, she was comatose in a local nursing home from drug and alcohol abuse while she lived on the streets. I had her moved here--we didn't think she'd ever recover. When she did, the drugs had done horrid things to her: she cannot talk, she had to learn how to walk again and her hands are permanently twisted into fists. It's very hard for her to dress herself. The only clothes she has are those someone gives her. She carries a photo of a young man and woman with her, but when we asked her who they were, she cried. Since she has lived with me, she has never received one piece of mail from anyone. She manages to make a little spending money by selling things she retrieves from dumpsters or fixing broken items the stores give her. "About six months ago, she knocked on my back door, late one night, very excited. She had found a tract from your church and had read it. We prayed together. I gave her one of Mama's Bibles and showed her several scriptures in it. I haven't seen her without it since." Pastor Barrett handed over the paper bag containing the scarves and asked, "Can you explain these? She left them in my church last night." As Miss Banks removed the bag's contents, she answered, "Mary's memory is very bad. Someone gave her a big box of scarves and she puts the name of someone she wants to pray for on a scarf. As she prays, she waves each scarf because she can't remember the name and she can't say it." There were numerous scarves in the bag, along with an old Bible. Sure enough, each scarf had a name or description of someone poorly scribbled in permanent black ink. As Miss Banks picked through the scarves, she showed the scribbles to the pastor. "These are the names of the two young people in the picture with her," she explained. "This one's for her mailman. This one is for Robert, the police officer who gives her a ride when the weather's bad. Here's Jesse's, the manager of the hardware store who gives her broken things to fix and sell. This one's for Evie, the social worker, who comes by to check on her from time to time." Pastor Barrett felt his shame grow as he realized the old woman's prayer list was longer than his! The last scarf drawn out was the prettiest of all. "Oh look, Pastor Barrett, here's one for you!" Miss Banks exclaimed. Tears shimmered in the pastor's eyes as he reached for the bag and scarves. With a completely different attitude, Pastor Barrett respectfully folded and gently placed each scarf back in the bag. He asked Miss Banks to somehow persuade Mary to come back to the (now not just "his") church. The following night when Mary entered the beautiful sanctuary, Pastor Barrett was already on his knees, with his own set of scarves.
"The Old Scarf Lady" Copyright © 1999 by Patricia Sikes. All Rights Reserved.
It Is Well With My Soul
If you have been blessed, give God the Glory! Please sign our guestbook; let us know you enjoyed "The Old Scarf Lady". Thank you so much for visiting He Is Able!
With the exception of the King James Bible, ALL material on He Is Able is protected by copyright.