It’s certainly a new place for me. The journey that is life reveals new circumstances all the time. The aging of one’s parents brings to bear the truth of mortality. It is as if it isn’t quite real until it is there in front of you. There, where one has to participate in the little things that we all take for granted – becomes monumental. Does it begin to diminish one’s dignity? When does it become a burden? When does it no longer become worth it?
The faces of the residents all tell stories. Stories of suffering, of glory lost, of life diminished, life in transition, life in waiting of eternity, life already gone. These faces belong to you and I - for all of us, some day.
As I help a nurse’s aide change my father’s diaper, I couldn’t help but wonder how he must be feeling. At the same time wondering how aware, if at all, he was. He was helpless, immobile, and child-like. Or was it me feeling like treating him as a child? Such is the natural progression of the child dependent to the dependent senior. And as I begin to appreciate the reality of this, I enter another stage of growth and the maturation process. Yes, this too is maturation.
I hope for significant recovery. I also know the inevitability of life’s course. With this I expect to learn more about myself and more about Jesus. I learn what it is to care for the helpless, the diminished, the ending of life on earth. Our flesh was never meant to last forever. As we depart the flesh and enter the spirit, we look back on things past. We look around what it is we are leaving. We hopefully are gleeful for where we are going.
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