I called her number to get a jump start on
the day,knowing I’d get a recorded message.
"May the Lord bless you and make you a blessing."
It was a blessing in itself. Long after
she joined the host of witnesses
who had inspired her from the other side,
we still could hear her voice and picture the smile
that attracted all within her magnetic field.
Others who loved her made such calls as mine,
compelling her devoted husband to leave it
on the phone. Her invincible spirit, immune to
the pernicious disease decimating her body,
comforted those who shared the bedside vigil.
She fairly glowed with faith and hope as she passed
from being of this earth into the eternity
to which she dedicated her life pointing the way.

—Elaine Parker Akin

(Note about the leaf:
This beautiful, lace-like leaf fell into our view
quite unexpectantly earlier this month.
I laid it onto the hood of Elaine's Blue Hyundai
to get a picture. Elaine penned this remembrance
of Martha last evening.)