The Long Goodbye by K. Denise Holmberg

Alzheimer’s. It cannot be prevented, cured or even slowed.

It's estimated over five million Americans currently have it.

Including my mother-in-law, Doris Holmberg Wolters.

As we face, what someone called ‘the long goodbye', I want to share some of her spiritual

Doris Holmberg Wolters

insights from days gone by. As you read her words, keep these thoughts with you:

She was raised as a latchkey kid in a poor Boston neighborhood. Her father was a drunk and a scoundrel. He abandoned his family when she was very young.

She struggled financially most of her life, was widowed in her early sixties, landed in a wheelchair in her seventies, and was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in her eighties.

Through it all ... her mantra in life has always been, “choose joy.”

The Struggle
by Doris Holmberg Wolters

Butterflies by Doris Holmberg Wolters

Oh dear, so that’s the culprit that has been feasting on the fruit of my labor. A caterpillar just made lace out of the leaves and flowers in my garden.

It is the feasting on God’s provision for his creatures that prepares this little pest to enter metamorphoses and its time in a protective chrysalis.

Its form will change there, in the darkness, and then struggle to make it’s way out of the pupa.

Now it has become a beautiful butterfly that will bring pleasure and enjoyment for our eyes to behold.

If it didn’t go through the struggle, that quiet strengthening process, it would be too weak to fly and its life would end.

So it is with us when we feast on the Word of God. This is where we receive our nourishment and grow in our walk with him.

But sometimes life happens, and we may possibly find ourselves in our own dark place.
Perhaps it’s a financial crisis, a lifestyle or employment change, an illness, or death of a loved one

During this time of struggle (that dark cocoon) God is strengthening us, helping us to become the very man or woman that he can use to bring beauty and blessing to others.

To bear fruit as we touch lives revealing the beauty of Christ. It is the working our way through the problem, willing to go through the struggle, quietly trusting him, that gives us the strength to live effective lives.


This is metaphoric prose she wrote about her spiritual life:

Temporary
by Doris Holmberg Wolters

The mountain top experience is exhilarating. When I must come down and face reality, I feel

Flower Basket by Doris Holmberg Wolters

renewed.

The valley is peaceful. But even here, storms come, dust flies, and sin finds me. But rain appears, usually through tears, and washes it all away. It is beautiful and peaceful again.

The forest is clean, fresh and invigorating. I find peace being surrounded by stalwart trees that have withstood time. But even here I watch out for poison ivy, and the threat of fire.

The city is crowded. It makes me feel hemmed in, claustrophobic. I can’t see the signs. I feel discouraged and anxious, detained and patient. I am slowed by traffic.

Thankfully, I’ve found that each situation is temporary.  I spend only a short time there.

I hope you find her words as poignant and inspirational as I do. Her wisdom comes from the fount of a life who has ran the race for Christ, and is still running it well.

Blessings,
KDH

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
James 1:2-4