Testimonies
Mae’s Footprints
More than a loving mother, grandmother, aunt and friend, Mae was our confidant, guide, and mentor, and our inspiration. She was the glue that kept the troubled pieces of her family from flying apart and the central switchboard that kept each one informed about the others. Mae gave to those in need and took in those with nowhere else to go, never considering the cost to her pocketbook or her reputation.
Mae was, above all, a woman of deep and enduring faith. And it was her fervent prayer and hope that everyone she touched – family, friends and strangers – would have the same life-changing, comforting faith in the Savior, Jesus Christ, as she had found. This is the very same prayer and hope that Jesus himself had for all people, if Scripture is to be believed.
During the final hours of her life I observed certain undeniable parallels to the final hours of Jesus’ life. Those who knew her know she would never want to be placed on equal footing with Jesus in any respect, and rightfully so. But I am compelled to describe what has been shown to me as a way of sifting some purpose and meaning out of an otherwise unfathomable event.
The intersection of Mae’s and Jesus’ story began when she suddenly collapsed at a restaurant when a blood vessel in her brain ruptured. What had begun as a birthday celebration dinner swiftly became an abrupt, agony-filled trip to the hospital. Scripture paints a similar scene as Jesus is abruptly taken away from his disciples and forced to go to a place where they could not go. All they could do was follow in dismay and worry about what might happen next. Neither those following Jesus’ captors nor those following Mae’s ambulance could have imagined that these would be the last hours on earth for a precious loved one.
As news of Jesus’ rapidly worsening situation became known throughout the city, those who loved him and who were closest to him gathered near the place where he was being held to hope and pray for the best possible outcome. Along the way they probably struggled to put their worst fears in the back of their minds.
Similarly, Mae’s family came to the hospital, a great distance from home for some. Many were in town for her birthday celebration: all her children, most grandchildren, her sister, a niece and her son. They too hoped and prayed for the best possible outcome, struggling to suppress their worst fears.
At the hospital and at the cross, followers waited and prayed and hoped and wept. At one point, cynical religious rulers chided Jesus, “He saved others; let him save himself.” Imagine Jesus’ disciples snatching at that faint glimmer of hope, despite its sarcastic source. “Yes, Jesus. You can do it,” they might have shouted. “Save yourself! We want you back with us again, alive and well!” Much as the disciples might have yearned for that, it was not to be. God had other plans in mind.
At one point at the hospital the neurosurgeon attending Mae pointed out, “It’s possible that she could recover from this.” I felt myself snatching at that faint glimmer of hope. “Yes, Jesus,” I shouted in my mind, “You can do it! What a wonderful way for God to show us a miracle! We want Mae back with us again, alive and well!” But much as we all yearned for that, it was not to be. Again, God had other plans in mind.
Both Jesus and Mae have flown away from this earthly realm but left similar footprints of their lives. Both left a legacy they desperately wanted to pass on to those others who knew them. They wanted those left behind to carry on their work, their passion to help the downtrodden, and their heart felt desire to show the love that God has in store for us.
While they lived, both Jesus and Mae knew, with a confidence that surpasses human understanding, that they were on the right course in life, the course that would bring them home to their Father. At this very moment they are enjoying each other’s company in Paradise. One of the utmost purposes they lived by was to show the path to those who would follow. If she could speak to us now, Mae would urge us to follow in her footprints so that, in the fullness of time, we too will enjoy life forever in the company of Jesus and loved ones that have gone ahead of us to the eternal bliss of the heavenly Kingdom.
Jim Scorzelli
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Thanks Jim, I really liked 'the central switchboard' description of Mae and later how you expressed the parallels to the final hours of Jesus’ life.
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