Bless What Remains

One of my all-time favorite books, The Queen of Attolia, set in a place and time and belief system similar to the ancient Greeks, begins with the harsh punishment of a thief, as the queen cuts off his hand.

Near the end, Eugenides, the thief, issues a challenge to the gods. “Why did this happen to me? Had I offended the gods?”

When he finally gets his answer, a goddess comes and asks him, “What would you give to have your hand back?”

Before he can answer: “Oh, no,” said the goddess. “It is beyond my power and that of the Great Goddess as well. What’s done is done, even with the gods. But if the hand could be restored, what would you give? Your eyesight?” The voice paused, and Eugenides remembered begging Galen, the physician, to let him die before he was blind. “Your freedom?” The goddess went on. “Your sanity? Think, Eugenides, before you question the gods. You have much still to lose.”

The line, “You have much still to lose,” rattles around in my head.

Could this not apply to so many areas of life?

• Loss of income?

• Loss of relationship?

• Loss of free time?

• Loss of well-stocked grocery stores?

• Loss of memory? (When our mind is not what it once was, can we bless the remnants, and offer whatever remains in service to the King of kings?)

Bless what remains to us. Offer what we have to the Lord.

We have much still to lose.

Lord, remind me of your gifts. The ability to see, to walk, to breathe. To spend time with family, to fill my stomach. Thank you that every good and perfect gift comes from above. Thank you, Father, that you give good gifts to your children, and that I am one of them.

Blessed be God,

Amy Joy

P.S. My friend Elisa, a chaplain who serves in several senior care facilities, published a wonderful blog post on a similar topic: Please Don’t Say That Your Grandma with Alzheimer’s Is “Gone.” The person is still there. Celebrate what remains.

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