It was very hot like most days in July. As usual, I stepped into a tiny
(1) shop to cool off. It was an old-time store with little round tables and chairs.
As I entered, I found a very old woman
(2) over a table near the door. Her back was so badly twisted by some sadness that her
(3) nearly touched the table top. I sat down facing her a couple of tables away.
"Poor woman," I
(4) , "what can she get out of life? After all, she is so aged. Why does God let people live so
(5) past the best time of their life?” As I thought, another aged lady entered the shop and sat down with her. Soon the two of them were talking about
(6) . They talked of how little the shop had changed in 70 years ……In minutes, the two of them were trembling with
(7) . I looked again at the first woman, then in the
(8) on a nearby wall, catching a picture of
(9) .
I was wearing a dirty shirt. She was
(10) dressed in white, her hands sparking with gold rings.
I was in
(11) spirits. She was laughing, smiling.
I sat alone. She was sharing the day with a good friend.I was putting the
(12) of my life together. She had millions of wonderful
(13) to recall.
I was
(14) worried about getting old. She was
(15) the day with a good friend. She was old, but it wasn't
(16) her.
As I left the shop, I thought of my (17) question about God letting people live past their best of their life. Why, that woman was more alive, more optimistic and more (18) to life than I was. (19) has not bent her spirit. But I am always filling my mind with something (20) .