Monday, July 31, 2017

Beautiful Feet Carrying the Message

Sunday morning I took my usual seat for early church services. A woman came in and sat at the end of the same row. When the pastor gave us an opportunity to greet each other, I introduced myself to her, and she told me her name.

I recognized Laura's name as one I had seen on the Sedalia walk site. “Are you involved with the Walk to End Alzheimer’s?” I asked.

“Yes, I am!” she said.

We had a brief discussion about walk committee meetings, and then it was time for services to resume. The sermon was based on Romans 10:15 (NLT) “...How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!”

I know that we may not see physical beauty when we look at our calloused feet, maybe marred with hammertoes, blisters, corns, or bunions. What we can imagine is the power of these “beautiful” feet to bring about change.  

Each year we have about 400 pairs of beautiful feet spreading the not-so-good news about Alzheimer’s disease. Many of the participants in the Sedalia walk have a loved one living with Alzheimer’s. Others, like Jim’s Team, walk to honor someone lost to the disease. Many members of Jim’s Team walk to honor other loved ones who have, or had, Alzheimer’s.

All these beautiful feet are boots on the ground in the battle to turn Alzheimer’s into a national priority. The walkers’ beautiful feet raise awareness and funds to help families coping with Alzheimer’s find resources to help them throughout the difficult journey.

At the same time, the Walk to End Alzheimer’s helps the Alzheimer’s Association fund research grants that explore new avenues toward finding a cure. New approaches, coupled with prior research, will hopefully build the momentum to find what has thus far been an elusive cure.

Alzheimer’s volunteers are a special breed of focused individuals. It’s kind of scary to me to realize how different my life would be if I had not taken that first step to become involved with the Walk to End Alzheimer’s. Because of my volunteer work, I’ve gained dozens of amazing friends.

Perhaps it was merely a coincidence that Laura sat close to me Sunday morning. Or maybe, it was divine intervention to bring together two warriors to fight the Alzheimer’s enemy.

As we left church on that beautiful day, we paused to talk.

“There’s a woman on another team in my line dancing class. You should meet her too,” I said. I hadn’t realized who she was until our instructor Ruth had encouraged the class to participate in the Walk to End Alzheimer’s. She told me she was already walking. In fact, I had just announced her team, Poppy’s Posse, on the radio as the current top fund-raising team.

“I’d like to go to line dancing,” she said.

“You should join us. We have a lot of fun! Our instructor Ruth is a joy to be around.”

While we talked, people from the early services were leaving, and others were streaming in for the next services.

I told Laura the days and time of our three line dancing classes, and while we were talking, Ruth joined us.

“I heard some women were talking about line dancing.” Ruth explained that the young man greeting people at the door had gone to the bookstore where she was volunteering to let her know some women were talking about line dancing. Ruth invited Laura to join us for line dancing exercise class.

Sunday was a day of connections with a dear friend and a new friend, both with beautiful feet to spread the good news that we are on the MOVE to End  Alzheimer’s.

Copyright © July 2017 by L.S. Fisher
http://earlyonset.blogspot.com

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