A small group of family and friends gathered together yesterday, June 16th, in Grand Rapids, MI, to celebrate the life of Ruth Noren. Many spoke of her in terms of the fruit of the spirit, and God had generously gifted her with all of them, but we also remembered her spunk and spontaneity, AND her sense of humor. Whenever our family was with the Noren Srs., we were always welcomed like long lost family, loved on and fed well. But the thing that sticks with me is the joy and laughter; even when things were tough, Ed and Ruth always had something to chuckle about. I think part of that was that they were actively praying about the problems and had confidence that God would take care of the situation. Ed always had a joke and Ruth piped in with quips. Hey, and Ruth taught me a thing or two as a newbie in Zaire back in 1978. She taught me that you can put avocado in with your fruit in jello and it tastes mighty good! Really! We had a running joke about what size tupperware would be big enough, but not too big, for the leftovers. She always guessed right on that – not, I suppose, a spiritual gift, but just the fact that she and I could laugh together about it was a gift. We remember her with joy, and we are thankful that she has been released from the prison of Alzheimer’s. We pray for the Lord to bring comfort especially to the family and all of us as we miss her. Peace to her memory!
Roy snapped a few pix so you can see just some of those who were there.
