‘Every Waking Moment’
Even though “Every Waking Moment”, by Chris Fabry, is fiction, it is so chock full of truths that can open one’s eyes that this week I will review the book and my next column will tell how it greatly impacted me.
The premise of the book was for Devin Hillis and his friend Jonah, two story collectors, to obtain permission from the management of Desert Gardens of Tucson, Arizona, assisted living and hospice facility to interview some of the residents and produce a documentary. They were successful in doing so but found much more than mundane stories about the lives of the elderly.
Before becoming completely submerged in the story, I must ask a question. What value should be placed on a 20 year old homely girl who has pointed ears, ever twitching eyes and head movement, stares awkwardly and has fingers in motion looking like they are typing on an imaginary typewriter? Not much value right! Even this girl thought she was ugly, fat, nobody liked her, she’s a misfit and nobody cared about her. If you agreed with my statement on “value”, you would be wrong!
While I was reading this book, someone brought to my attention once again the passage about “One Body, Many Parts” in I Corinthians 12: 12- 31. This portion of Scripture compares those who have trusted Christ and make up the church with our own bodies. Each has many parts. Just as our bodies are not complete without eyes, ears, nose, legs, feet, etc., the church body is not complete without members who have various talents. We all are important. Therefore, there is no reason for anyone to feel inferior or superior. Verse 18 says: “But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.”
There are many characters in the book who are important, but none as important as the 20 year old girl described above, whose name is Treha (pronounced Trayah), who surprisingly becomes the main character of the book. There is Miriam Howard, the Director of Desert Gardens who has so many wonderful qualities: love, giving, empathy, forgiving, insight. She is perfect for her position she has held for many years. She sees abilities in Treha that no one else does and lets Treha branch out to take advantage (both for Treha and the facility) of those abilities.