Memories of Anita

A photo, a box and a bottle of safety pins sat on a table at the memorial for Anita. 
(Photo: Alden Woods/The Republic)

Posted at The Christian's Report:

"During numerous conversations with Anita over the course of 8 or 9 months while commuting to work on the Phoenix bus system, I experienced on each and every occasion an overwhelming sense that I was loved by this special person. She presented herself with matted and tangled hair, wind and sun blown face that looked like she had just climbed Mt. Everest, and shoes through which the bottoms of her feet met more pavement than shoe. But when confronted with the gaze of her blue eyes and the soft voice that conveyed gratitude for even the most insignificant of gestures, the particulars of her appearance faded into the background."

I decided not to post either C. H. Spurgeon’s morning or evening devotional earlier today because they just didn’t feel right. I am going through a period during which God’s convicting spirit combined with amazing instruction from John Owen on holiness, sin, and temptation in the form of 3 books consolidated into 1 which can be found here. Owen’s writing is hard to read and requires much patience as it sometimes takes several passes over a paragraph before I am able to grasp the intended point.

And so it is in my current spiritual state that I found the two meditations in question a bit out of place. I am not generally averse to messages on dying, and in fact I usually find them enlightening and well worth reading. But on this day I just did not want to post either one of them.

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See also:

"They called her the Safeway Lady. The Bag Lady. She was the woman who wore every piece of clothing she owned, always black, even in the heat of a Phoenix summer. The homeless woman who walked the soles off every pair of shoes people gave her. The lady with the ice-blue eyes."

• M&Ms and safety pins: The life and death of the woman everyone saw but no one knew (azcentral.com)