By Tom Allen

My wife Julie is in late stages of Alzheimer’s.  She is child-like and vulnerable.  While I can walk with her in her suffering and death, I can’t protect her from it or go with her.  And yet, I keep feeling responsible to do something.

It comforts me to imagine God saying to me,

“Julie is in her birth canal, and I am her pregnant mother, about to give her birth to a whole new life.  She and I are both in a lot of labor pain.  But, you need not be concerned, because I am with her in the pain.”

“I am also the midwife, and I have birthed countless people into this new life before, including..(relatives and friends already beyond the veil).  I have Julie’s back. And all of those who have moved on are praying constantly for her, waiting patiently for her to be with them for eternity.”

“All I ask of you is that you be my beloved little shepherd boy, Tommy, keeping watch over the manger for any glimpses of my incarnation.  And, that you be the manger, the humble holder of the sacred that is in all of life, as I reveal it to you.”