A favorite book we display in our home every December is Tom Hegg’s “A Cup of Christmas Tea.” In it the author poetically describes visiting an elderly aunt who is dealing with the challenges of loneliness and aging at Christmastime. This bestselling story touches my heart every time I read it. It’s a story with which I personally relate having spent a decade serving as a chaplain at Covenant Living at the Shores.

Over the holidays, I decided to go visit an elderly woman I deeply admired. Dorothy Englund, soon to celebrate her 102nd birthday, was recently moved to an adult family home. Her declining health and decreased mobility required that she have round-the-clock care. A mutual friend told me Dorothy was struggling with the transition. Giving up her home and independence after living on her own was making this first Christmas especially difficult.

Finding Dorothy’s number in my contacts, I called to ask if I could visit. I sensed the excitement in her voice as she responded affirmatively. Upon entering her room, I was greeted by my friend’s signature smile. Although confined to a wheelchair, Dorothy conveyed delight that I’d taken time to see her.

Taking in her new digs, I complimented my dear friend on how cozy and comfortable everything seemed. While continuing my visual tour, I mentally recalled how our friendship began a decade earlier. Although Dorothy did not live at “The Shores” where I had been chaplain, she played her violin in an instrumental ensemble every Sunday. Her presence in the weekly on-campus worship service I conducted was noteworthy (literally).

It was an amazing start to a friendship between two people separated by thirty years. As we got to know each other, I discovered that Dorothy had been part of Seattle Youth for Christ’s famed string and vocal ensemble back in the 1940s. I told her my mom was in that same organization. Digging out an old black and white photo from the Seattle Armory, I found both Dorothy and my mom. To my amazement, I also learned that her sister and brother-in-law had lived in a home on Mercer Island my maternal grandfather had built in the 1950s. Can you believe it? Our families were connected ever before I was born.

Dorothy’s fascinating life included raising four sons, teaching neighborhood Bible clubs and teaching herself how to paint when she was in her sixties. Her paintings would often become reproduced in Christmas cards that she’d faithfully send to family and friends.

As Dorothy asked me about our family, I gave her a brief update. There’d been a three-month ministry assignment in Switzerland. Our youngest daughter was married this past summer. I told her I missed my position at the retirement community. She told me she missed playing violin in the Sunday gatherings.

I couldn’t help looking around at paintings on the wall she’d done forty years earlier. One painting in particular caught my attention. It was a beautiful rendering of a bald eagle. She told me it was one of her favorites. I understood why. Dorothy’s cognitive focus and spiritual energy defied her age. It was obvious to me that my friend was a living example of the wall-plaque Scripture found in Isaiah 40. “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint…”

When our visit was over, I took both of Dorothy’s hands and offered a simple prayer. I asked the Lord to help her face the challenges of her new situation. And then to my delight, she prayed for me. Her physical strength was depleted, but her spirit was amazingly strong. I left buoyed by having been in the presence of greatness. And much like the main character in Tom Hegg’s Christmas poem, my visit with a senior saint had nourished my soul.

Guest columnist Greg Asimakoupoulos is a former chaplain at Covenant Living at the Shores in Mercer Island.