The Anointing

Okay, so it has been almost nine months since I’ve blogged. It’s not that nothing significant has happened in life, it’s just that I don’t take the time to put it out there for the world. I really do blog – just the old fashioned way. I have probably dozens of journals that have accumulated over the years full of personal stuff – spiritual insights (at least I think they are) and therapeutic musings. Definitely nothing for the public to see. So after I get that done – I don’t have the need really to write more words. Actually it has been so long since I’ve entered the blogging world, that I forgot how to do it! I’ve putzed around quite a while this morning trying to remember my user name and password and never did succeed. Ah, the aging brain. I’ll have to wait until somebody gets home to help jog my blogged memory.

A passage of Scripture did kind of grab me the other day and I began to think about it in a different way. Remember the story of Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus, and how she took a jar of very expensive oil and poured it on Jesus’ head? What a waste! Sell the perfume, use the money to help the poor, she was told. Jesus disagreed and silenced the criticism. The poor will always be around and you can always help them. But not me. The perfume is preparing me for burial. Jesus was anticipating a criminal’s death – no anointing oil for him. In Mary’s sacrificial act, she was showing the world that Jesus was no criminal even though the method of execution was reserved for criminals. But that isn’t what I saw in this passage –this time at least.

What kinds of sacrifices do I make for those I love the most – for those who won’t always be with me? The good deeds I do, the service for the poor and needy…I can always do those kinds of things because the needy will forever be around. But those special people (husband, children, family, dearest friends) may not be with me tomorrow. In loving, honoring, serving, giving I am in a sense readying them and myself for departure. No regrets there – only the satisfaction and joy of knowing I’ve done all I possibly could to make the journey home a wonderful one! Help me, Lord, to pour oil liberally on all the heads I love!