The Old Cardboard Box

About three years ago someone gave me a tattered, old cardboard box with copies of music magazines and music books. I put it in the corner of the room not sure what I should do with it.'

Fast foreward to two months ago. I arrived a my patient's home to find her sitting outside under an umbrella. We made the usual greetings and then she asked if I had heard of a song called "Wafaring Stranger". I asked her to sing it to me. In a soft, whispery sweet voice she sang a few bars. I was touched and felt impressed that I needed to learn this sone.

I started looking by looking the words up on the internet and then looked in flea markets and bookstores for old songbooks and could not find the song. I returned home on my last attempt and turned and saw the old tattered box sitting behind the loveseat. The dust mites were stirred up as I started to plow through the magazines and there in the bottom was a book of American favorite songs. And there it was.

I brought the book to my patient and she was pleased that I cared enough to search for the music. I left the book .

The song touched me and I decided that I needed to lean it well enough to sing at November's memorial service. So I asked for the return of the music book. Before she returned it to me she asked me to sing it to her. I did..then she said, "You'll sing it at my funeral." She turned to look at me , "You will won't you." I'm not sure if that was a statement or question.

Friday night I sang it at her funeral...God moves in mysterious ways through a tattered cardboard box.