Making A Difference

"Now Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died and was buried under the oak below Bethel.  So it was named Allon Bacuth(or oak of weeping)."  Genesis 35:8

Making A Difference
By Rev. William Dohle

I've probably told this story before...but it still strikes me.  It is the best definition of making a difference through your WHOLE life that I have...

She was 99 years old.  Blind and mostly deaf.  Every morning she was moved from her bed to a chair that sat across from that bed.  There she stared out the window, talked with the staff, waited for vistors, and waited to die.

Every week her pastor, a vicar at the time, would come and visit her.  And each week he would hear the same.

"Pastor, pray that I die this week!"

I smiled at her, leaned close to her good ear, and screamed, "Alright, but you want communion first?"

"That would be good," she'd say.

After communion, she would talk again about death.  At first when I visited her, she would tell me: "My family isn't letting me die yet.  They say I have to reach 100!"

"That would be nice," I told her.

Later that year she did turn 100 and I walked with her and the staff around her home 100 steps!

Later that week I went to visit her again.

"My family says I have to stay alive," she said.  "At least until the new millenium! (it was 1999)."

"That would be nice," I told her.

She did stay alive that year and three more years.  At the age of 103 Bertha Ryder went home to her Lord in heaven.

There we have it.  A woman who was blind and deaf and couldn't even stand without help.  Did she make a difference??

Yes!  She did!

She made a difference to the staff, to her family, and to the young pastor who came to visit her.  Countless stories have been told of her.  Her memory endures.  Even blind and deaf, she was able to make a difference and a lasting impression.  And it counted!

Today's verse speaks of a woman no one remembers.  A nurse named Deborah.  We are told she was Rebekah's nurse.  And we can only assume that she took care of both Esau and Jacob when they were young.  She died.  And the place they buried her in Beth-el, the house of God, is said to be under the oak of weeping.  This woman, never spoken of before this reference or after.  This woman affected the lives of both Jacob and Esau, and in turn affected the lives of all of God's children.

We too make more of a difference than we think.  You!  That's right.  You!  You make a difference in the lives of people around you.  You affect more people than you can count?  More lives are changed because of YOU than you will ever know about here and now!  Your memory and the impact you have on another's life will live on after you.  They will live because of how you lived.  And because of how you lived, others' lives will be changed.

All this happens because of the Holy Spirit.  God's Spirit carries our actions beyond us.  Our words echo in other people's minds.  Our deeds resonated and help them through their days.  Not because they were profound or important in themselves, but because the Spirit, working through us, changes the lives for the good of all those around us.

The Holy Spirit calls people to faith.  Today you will be that microphone.  The Holy Spirit enlightens people.  Today you will echo His teachings.  The Holy Spirit makes us holy.  Today you will forgive others on God's behalf.  The Holy Spirit keeps us in the true faith.  And you will encourage others, through your words and deeds, to consider that faith for themselves.

May God make each of us Deborahs in the world, nurse maids for his children, as our words and deeds transform this world, through the Holy Spirit.

Holy Spirit, equip us with the vision to see beyond ourselves and to realize and know the profound affect we have on others and on this world, through Jesus Christ.  Amen.