P21The Curious Life of a Preacher's Wife

Plot: Climax

After 30 chapters or more of Azul ministering as she is chased by ministry, helping myriad people along her pathway to peace in the final little hovel she invisions for her last days on Earth, while trying desperately to be alone, and as is her goal finally peaceful in the alone-time, she realizes, that something has changed in her heart, she realizes, that peace has lighted upon her heart, like a butterfly upon an althea bloom, she realizes, that as hard as she has been chasing peace, peace has already caught her. The Prince of Peace has ascended to throne of her heart, and she will now know joy and peace forevermore.

In the denouement of the book we can see Azul finally ensconced in the little farmhouse, which is not exactly the hobbit-hole she had envisioned, but it is a pleasant place for ministry, which she now desires to embrace for the rest of her temporal days. Her farmhouse has patches of grass all over the front yard from her door to the dirt road, but the vast majority of her yard is that same red clay, which used to cake on her face as a child playing on rainy days in the little south Georgia town of Sycamore.

Azul lives a scant half-mile from the burial plot, which will house her remains one day. For all practical purposes, that grave will become the hobbit hole, she had longed for, allowing her to finally enter the book series by one of her favorite authors, J.R.R. Tolkien, who wrote The Hobbit. The other favorite author, C.S. Lewis penned one of her all-time favorite novels, The Final Battle. As she looks at that same demise we all must face, Joy beams from her face as she declares, "That grave will be the door to the stable, through which I shall hear those beloved words, 'Come further up. Come further in.'" May that be so for all of us.

Days of hospitality turn into weeks, months, and years. When it is finally time for Azul to lay down her mortal clay, breathing out her spirit into the Hands of God, while leaving her body to be laid beneath the Georgia red clay, she smiles broadly for she knows Many of my dear friends and loved ones will now attend me into The Great Kingdom of the Lord forever, simply because we shared a cup of coffee or tea, and sometimes even a full meal, while I had the privilege of sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with each of them, becoming a veritable mid-wife for these new babies of the Lord.

We each need times of peace of Earth.
We all absolutely need the eternity of peace forever.
"Dear Lord, make it so in the lives of all within our spheres of influence. In Your Great Name,...AMEN."

by Jay O’Toole
on October 5th, 2021