[Jesus said] "And if you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded." (Matthew 10:42)

"I'll be praying for you," I told my neighbor. As the words rolled out of my mouth, they felt hollow. She had just shared with us that her son had received some bad news following a medical test. On any other warm spring afternoon such as this, we'd meet up with our neighbors in the yard amid lawn mowers, garden tools, and gloves. Her heart was much too heavy today, however, to talk about what a glorious day it was. Undoubtedly, praying for her family would be the most important, most helpful thing I could do; still, I felt helpless. I did pray for her family; I prayed also that God would show me some way to express my love for them."I could at least bake them a pie ... maybe a little comfort food would help," I told my husband. After flipping through a few recipe books, I came to the cookbook that she, herself, had recently published. It was put together in memory of her mother. There was a recipe for a chocolate meringue pie that looked absolutely scrumptious.After mixing together the flour, cocoa, and sugar with the scalded milk in my pan, I placed it on the stove and began to stir it while it cooked. While waiting for the mixture to properly thicken, I began to thumb through the cookbook. There was "Granny Emma's Banana Nut Bread" and "Grace's Apple Butter Bars." Just saying the words was delicious.

I began to thumb through the cookbook.
As I read through the book, I found that amidst pages of homemade peach and apple pie recipes were precious memories of home and family, put on paper by my friend. She told about playing on her Granddad's front porch at their old home place and remembering the sound of her Grandmother's sweet giggles. After painstakingly researching her family's genealogy, she was able to share priceless information about her family history all the way back to the Civil War. That afternoon, I sat at the kitchen table, engrossed in stories and pictures from years gone by.

Later, as my son and I walked across the yard to deliver the pie to Miss Pam, we talked about giving her a hug and a kiss to make her feel better. Earlier that morning, simply baking a pie felt insignificant in the grand scheme of all that was happening in our dear friend's life. After experiencing Pam's heartfelt account of all of her family memories, however, I realized that God had a hand in this. He knew that something as simple as tasting the sweetness of a chocolate meringue pie that's been in her family for years would bring her a few moments of much needed comfort. I imagine that while in those quiet moments, she might feel the warmth that she felt when, years ago, her mother made that pie. Perhaps during that time, she would realize that her Mother, in heaven, was also thinking of her and embracing her.