Frank sent it to me as a gift from Saudi Arabia years ago while he was working there. It was handmade from clay in a village there. I admire the variations in color; the shape is nice.

It was broken in shipping and repaired, but you can still see the scars up around the top.

When I see this jar, I think of Frank’s love for me. The jar has a purpose, the capacity to hold any number of things, but I protect it because of his love. I use the jar sometimes, carefully. I’m glad it can have purpose, but I cherish it regardless because of the love it represents. This jar has become even more precious because Frank is gone. If something happened to this jar, I would be very sad, but I would still have the memory of the love he expressed in the gift. Nothing can ever erase that.

We all have a purpose and a job to do, but God loves us and protects us because of the love we represent. We are even more precious because Jesus’s sacrificial death made possible our relationship with Him. Never lose sight of that. If you are working or if you are resting, you are valuable to Him. Just like this jar is to me.

When a person has lost his or her ability to function as before, they are still as precious to Him and to us as before. They may sit on a shelf and just be, but they are cherished because of His love and their love inside of them and inside of us for them. Until they enter Heaven, we will cherish them. Then we will cherish their memory.

Alzheimer’s does not win.

I love you, Nanny.
“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.”
‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭4:7-10‬ ‭NIV‬‬
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