"What Do You See?"

She lived in the geriatric war of a small hospital near Dundee, Scotland. She was an elderly lady and passed from this life. Everyone that knew her believed she had left nothing of value. The staff and nurses were going through her meager possessions and found the following poem:

"What do you see, nurses, what do you see?

What do you see when you're looking at me?

I'm a small child of ten...with a father and mother,

Brothers and sisters, who love one another.

A bride at twenty, my heart gives a leap,

Remembering the vows that I promised to keep.

A woman of thirty, my young now grow fast,

Bound to each other with ties that should last.

At forty, my children have grown and are gone,

But my man's beside me to see I don't mourn.

At fifty once more, babies play round my knee,

Again we know children, my husband and me.

I'm an old woman now, and nature is cruel;

'Tis jest to make old age look like a fool.

The body, it crumbles; grace and vigor depart;

There is now a stone where once was a heart.

But inside this old container a young girl still dwells,

And now and again my battered heart swells.

I remember the joys, I remember the pain,

And I'm loving and living life over again.

I think of the years...all too few, gone too fast,

And accept the stark fact that nothing can last.

So open your eyes, nurses, open and see,

Not a crabby old woman; look closer...see ME!"

"Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come." (II Cor. 5:16-17)

Let me ask you, when you look at your brethren, what do you see?