I believe that the issue of Christian nationalism is a powerful, dangerous and insidious ideology.  It perverts and dilutes the message of the gospel.  Jesus’ clear statements regarding the the kingdom he came to establish and call people to was entirely different from kingdoms of earth.  He said, “(KJV) Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” clearly teaching the separation of the two.  Also, “John 18:36 (CSB) My kingdom is not of this world,” said Jesus. “If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight, so that I wouldn’t be handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.”  

In Romans, Paul expounds upon the differences between things of the flesh vs things of the spirit, calling the Roman church to differentiate between the two.  Romans 7:4-5 (NASB) 4 Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.”  In this passage he is referring to the Law of Moses which was set in a theocracy, Paul points to a new allegiance.  In chapter 13 Paul makes it clear that we are to be subject to our government.  I find it hard to accept that governments are authorized and empowered by God.  But with all that, Paul never suggests that Christians should become involved in political activism.

The system of law and religion was delivered in the time of the patriarchs through the Mosaic Covenant.  Priests and the Judges governed religious practice and secular matters.  With the appointment of Saul as king, the Israelites transitioned to a theocratic monarchy.  In this period, a temple was built and religious activities were centered upon it. Priests and prophets were responsible for the religious domain and the maintenance of the temple while the king, though under the authority of the Mosaic Covenant,  managed the secular aspects of the Israelite nation. 

Later the nation of Israel was conquered by the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Fatimids, Seljuk Turks, Crusaders, Egyptians, Mamelukes, Islamists.  Temple worship was compromised so by the time of Jesus, synagogue worship was central and political affairs were out of the control of the Jews. 

Against that history, the period just before Jesus incarnation, the temple was rebuilt and became the center of Jewish worship.   It’s instructive to consider the history of the Roman Empire in order to appreciate the political climate in the first century BCE through the first century A.D. (C.E.)  It began as a republic in 509 BCE and quickly evolved into various forms of representative democracy,  By the time of Jesus, it had become a dictatorship until its final collapse in the 5th Century.  Jesus and subsequent church leaders and writers realized that political activism was not a viable option.  

All of the above leads me to my conviction that throughout the history of the Church, political involvement was never expedient and when practiced, led to horrible abuses and an abandonment of the spiritual focus and purpose of the church.  

As an individual Christian, I am governed by those principles revealed by Jesus and his followers.  I look to New Testament scripture to inform me.  God never coerces or compels.  Each person is free to follow the path that the Lord sets as revealed in scripture, confirmed by the actions of Providence and promptings of the indwelling Spirit.  Having lived long enough to realize that my understanding of scripture has grown over time and that my  convictions have constantly needed to be realigned through study, experience, increasing knowledge, prayer, circumstances and the influence of other godly men and women.  I am willing to share my faith and convictions to others, but I try not to be so arrogant as to try to compel others to adhere to them through enforcement of secular law, financial incentives, creeds, or statements of faith. 

April 30, 2023

It’s natural to ask yourself —  “Why did I go through all of this to get the job only to have it taken away from me in less than a year?”  “Was it God’s will after all?” “If not, why not?”  Now it’s easy for me to say nice things and wax philosophical when I’m retired and reasonably secure…for now. Though at my age, anything can happen, I’m not facing Calamity knocking at my door because I don’t have a source of income.  (Unless Republicans have their way.) 

God opened the door and you responded.  Though demanding, the  job was challenging, fulfilling and an answer to your prayers.  For it to just vanish must be devastating.  But you are smart, resourceful, talented in addition to being a really awesome person.  I’m anxious to see what comes next in your career.

I always think of poor old Ezekiel whom God made to lie on his left side for 390 days as a metaphor for how long Israel would be under siege and then immediately lie on his right side for 40 days as a metaphor of how long Jerusalem would be under siege.  For what?  It didn’t change anything!  

Hosea was told by God to marry a whore as a metaphor for God’ faithfulness contrasted with Israel’s unfaithfulness.  The good news was that she really knew her way around in bed, but the bad news was that she was a lousy wife and made an unhappy marriage.  For what?  

Well, God’s plans are inscrutable.  The Old Testament in particular teaches us over and over that obedience to God, despite what the books of Psalms and Proverbs promise, often leads to hardship, suffering and sometimes death to accomplish God’s purposes.  Though we cannot see it at the time and sometimes never, what we go through may be preparing us for something or someone in the future.  God’s way is right even when it is counterintuitive to us.  In fact, that often seems to be the case.

So I commend you to James 1:2-4  “James 1:2 (MSG) Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.”     

A couple weeks ago a woman spoke at church.  She made 3 points:  God Provides.  God Sustains.  God Shapes.  You had a great experience there.  That sets you up for something even better.  You make contacts there, it looks great on your resume or CV as they seem to favor these days.  Gotta love them Latins!  You may get called back, or go on to something else that God has planned.  Whatever happens, you are in God’s will.  God Provides.  God Sustains.  God Shapes.  

Jim

I am a Christian.  I condemn and reject what has become of mainstream Christianity.  I believe that our major Protestant denominations have lost their way.  They have become corrupted by worldly ambition, the maintenance of power, accumulation of wealth and an authoritarianism that has little in common with the humble, Jesus centered, simple roots of the first century A.D. (C.E).  Much evil has been done in the name of our Lord and Savior.  

I am not a Roman Catholic.  The pomp, ostentatious wealth, churches and cathedrals, the rigid hierarchy and authoritarianism of the Church of Rome bear little resemblance to the simplicity of the apostles, the writings of the New Testament and the first century church.  The political ambitions and power that the Roman Catholic Church over the centuries have no connection to the teachings of Jesus and his disciples.  Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” But the kingdom of the Roman church is very much of this world.  Much evil has been done in the name of our Lord and Savior by the Roman Catholic Church.

I acknowledge two other great Abrahamic faiths, Judaism and Islam.  They too bear examination but I will to limit these remarks to the Roman Catholic and Protestant traditions here.

Yet incalculable good has also come from God fearing men and women over the centuries and the principles of the simple gospel have permeated the bodies of law and government in much of the world.  We have the Roman Catholic Church as well as Protestants to thank for that.  Institutions for social justice and welfare exhibited by their work in the fields education, medical care, helping the poor and disenfranchised, protecting people from civil injustice are beyond calculation.  They have over the centuries and continue to provide a sense of community and mutual responsibility and support worldwide.  They have worked to instigate in their believers a moral compass, a sense of compassion, a sense of meaning and well being, belonging and purpose to their adherents.  Much of the great music, art and literature have stemmed from Christian faith and been preserved by its institutions.  

Because of the fallibility of human nature, our tendencies toward what has been categorized as the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life — all institutions and organizations are flawed.  Therefore, what begins as pure and noble will always include a corrupt element. Apostle Paul wrote to the Roman church, “All men (human kind) have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”   Even the best of us have flaws.  So we must acknowledge the flaws and seek to correct their results while we also celebrate the good that they do.

We begin another year with optimism and determination to make it better than the previous year.  The problems worldwide are immense, complicated and seemingly intractable.  Turning now to our United States of America, never in my lifetime of over seven decades has our country been more divided.  It is wrong and simple minded to point to any single factor to blame.  I’m not going to run through my particular list.  Each reader will have their own list.  Rather, I would like to consider what we can do to make some progress toward healing, understanding and unity.

A year ago, Pope Francis delivered an address for the celebration of the 53rd World Day of Peace.  It is brilliant.  In his New Year’s message for 2021, he picked up again on some of the same themes and declares that 2021 will be “the year of the family”.  I will include a link to that January 2020 address and quote a few things from his 2021 message.  I encourage you to read and ponder what Pope Francis said.  His last year’s address focused on hope and peace.  It’s difficult to distill his amazing speech.  I include some excerpts below in the hope that a thoughtful reading will encourage you to read his entire address.  (see link below)

• “Peace, a journey of hope in the face of obstacles and trial”
• “Hope is thus the virtue that inspires us and keeps us moving forward, even when obstacles seem insurmountable.”
• “Entire nations find it difficult to break free of the chains of exploitation and corruption that fuel hatred and violence. Even today, dignity, physical integrity, freedom, including religious freedom, communal solidarity and hope in the future are denied to great numbers of men and women, young and old. Many are the innocent victims of painful humiliation and exclusion, sorrow and injustice, to say nothing of the trauma born of systematic attacks on their people and their loved ones.”
• “War, as we know, often begins with the inability to accept the diversity of others, which then fosters attitudes of aggrandizement and domination born of selfishness and pride, hatred and the desire to caricature, exclude and even destroy the other.”
• “The world does not need empty words but convinced witnesses, peacemakers who are open to a dialogue that rejects exclusion or manipulation. In fact, we cannot truly achieve peace without a convinced dialogue between men and women who seek the truth beyond ideologies and differing opinions.”
• “The peace process thus requires enduring commitment. It is a patient effort to seek truth and justice, to honour the memory of victims and to open the way, step by step, to a shared hope stronger than the desire for vengeance. In a state based on law, democracy can be an important paradigm of this process, provided it is grounded in justice and a commitment to protect the rights of every person, especially the weak and marginalized, in a constant search for truth.”
• “Only by choosing the path of respect can we break the spiral of vengeance and set out on the journey of hope.”
• “What is true of peace in a social context is also true in the areas of politics and the economy, since peace permeates every dimension of life in common. There can be no true peace unless we show ourselves capable of developing a more just economic system.”

In today’s address he declared this to be the Year of the Family.  

He also observed that the coronavirus pandemic has taught the world “how much it is necessary to take an interest in others’ problems and to share their concerns,” which in turn leads to peace.

Peace is “sustained with patient and respectful dialogue” and “constructed with an open collaboration with truth and justice,” He wished that 2021 would be a year of peace and a year of hope. 

I pray that we all remember these admonitions and do our part to advance the cause of peace.

Jim Smith

January 1, 2021

http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/messages/peace/documents/papa-francesco_20191208_messaggio-53giornatamondiale-pace2020.html

Just thinking…about parenthood

October 6, 2020

I watched a TV episode of The Twighlight Zone this evening called “In Praise of Pip”, broadcast in 1963.  Jack Klugman, the principle actor, gave a wonderful performance.  It started me thinking about what kind of parent I was to my two sons and daughter while they were growing up.  What would I change if I could do it over again?  Well, I could write a book on that subject.  What things would I do all over again the same way?  How much did I love my children and how did I show that love?  Would I have given my life for them?  So much to think about.  Now all of them are in their 40’s and now I’m in “The Twilight Zone” myself in a manner of speaking.

Those thoughts reminded me of the beautiful and thought provoking old hymn, “I Gave My Life For Thee”.  

I gave My life for thee,
My precious blood I shed,
That thou might ransomed be,
And raised up from the dead;
I gave, I gave My life for thee,
What hast thou giv’n for Me?
I gave, I gave My life for thee,
What hast thou giv’n for Me?

My Father’s house of light,
My glory-circled throne
I left for earthly night,
For wand’rings sad and lone;
I left, I left it all for thee,
Hast thou left aught for Me?
I left, I left it all for thee,
Hast thou left aught for Me?

I suffered much for thee,
More than thy tongue can tell,
Of bitt’rest agony,
To rescue thee from hell;
I’ve borne, I’ve borne it all for thee,
What hast thou borne for Me?
I’ve borne, I’ve borne it all for thee,
What hast thou borne for Me?

And I have brought to thee,
Down from My home above,
Salvation full and free,
My pardon and My love;
I bring, I bring rich gifts to thee,
What hast thou brought to Me?
I bring, I bring rich gifts to thee,
What hast thou brought to Me?

We don’t get mulligans in parenting.  I don’t know if I have the courage to ask those questions to my own children and hear their answers.  The one thing that I DO know is that I tried to do the best that I knew how to be and always acted out of love for them.  Perhaps that’s the best that any parent can do.  Along with their mother, having raised my own children, I became less judgmental of them and I learned to understand and appreciate my own parents far more than I did before.  Perspectives change with maturity and personal experience.  

One’s response to the hymn above can be one of gratitude and love, or guilt and indifference.  For me, it’s mostly gratitude and love, but also some guilt and shame for allowing the cares and allures of this world distract me from the priceless gift I’ve received.

Would I have sacrificed my life in order to save one of my children?  I am convinced that I would whether it came from instinct, paternal love or from reason and examination of the pros and cons, the answer would always be, “Yes!”  If I was asked to make that choice today for any of my children or their spouses, or for my grandchildren, the answer would be unhesitatingly, “Yes!”

Before I explain my answer, let me acknowledge that the power of love is understood and experienced in many different ways and one person’s love cannot be compared to any other’s.  But there is no love like the love of a parent, even one who does not know how to express it.  Sometimes even  the recipient of that love cannot fully comprehend it.  Is my answer because I’m a saint?  Far from it.  Is it out of guilt and shame?  Absolutely not!  It comes because I am a parent and because, in some inexplicable way, I am made in God’s image.

I recommend that you search for and watch that episode from the fifth season of “The Twilight Zone”.  It is far more than entertainment.

ARE YOU A “THINK” OR A ?NO-THINK”?

Fifty-two years ago (I was 20 years old at the time) I conceived and promoted my theory that the world was made up of two two kinds of people — “Thinks” And “No-thinks”.  

“Thinks” observe, read, listen, research, gather facts, consider the possibilities in the light of probability and reason and then form their  opinions. Those opinions is not written in stone.  It may be modified or changed in the light of the continuing process that “thinks” employ.  “Thinks are constantly reexamining, questioning and challenging their beliefs and modifying them in the light of their ongoing inquiry.  “Thinks” can present themselves as elitists and arrogant, even condescending.  Because they are constantly searching, they can seem fickle and indecisive.  

“No-thinks”, on the other hand approach life very differently.  They are not introspective, thoughtful people. They process life on the basis of impulse and emotion.  They tend to accept unquestioningly whatever is consistent with their preconceived and unexamined convictions and reject whatever is inconsistent with those opinions, beliefs and convictions. They life in a state of reactionary fear, ignorance and outrage.  Many tend to live in a universe of negativity and victimhood while others drift through life untouched and unmoved by reality, preferring to live in their comfortable bubble of preferred unreality.  “No-thinks” say, “My mind is made up.  Don’t confuse me with the facts.”  When confronted, they often retort, “That’s just YOUR opinion!” as though opinions and facts are equivalent.  “No-thinks” love authority.  Their world is black and white.  Those who agree with them are white and everybody else is black.  White is friend; black is foe.

Obviously, this construct has flaws. People rarely fall one hundred percent  into either extreme.  Nevertheless, I believe that most people  belong predominantly in one of the other of these two categories.  It helps explain why members of each group are baffled by the behaviors of the opposite group.  It helps me to be more compassionate and less judgmental of those who disagree with me and those who see the world so differently.

Jim Smith

July 10, 2020

Source: Band obsessions

I recently participated in a discussion of reeds.  All woodwind players (except flutes and piccolos) have very definite preferences, practices, myths and superstitions about reeds.  They are preoccupied with brands, strengths, cuts, care and maintenance.  It’s a fascinating preoccupation.  I read a discussion once about the proper method of soaking a reed.  Should you use water, saliva, vodka, rum, mouthwash, etc.  My favorite was “I prefer to soak my reeds in water, and my head in vodka! “.  Then there are endless discussions on why reeds turn black, or in one case, blue.  It’s riveting!

Brass players, on the other hand are preoccupied with bores and mouthpieces.  Rims, the bite, the cup, material and dozens of variables.  Of course brands are very important for every instrumentalist.  We all have our favorites.  And oils?  Don’t get me started!

Now percussionists are a breed unto themselves.  Nobody could possibly understand a percussionist except another percussionist.  They live in an exotic and mystical world of endless varieties of instruments, ancient and modern, from every culture.  The sheer variety of sticks and mallets is overwhelming.  And how and where to strike each instrument for effects so subtle and diverse that they can only be discerned by the keen ear of a percussion player is as arcane as inscrutable.  I won’t even attempt to describe the neurotic world of the string player.

What a fantastic bunch we are.  And when I stop and think about how such a hoard of specialists, highly skilled, intelligent and individualistic can come together of one mind,  to create music that exalts the soul, lifts the spirit, works the emotions and leads the audience to a place of transcendence, I am humbled, honored, amazed, thrilled and privileged to be a part of such an experience.

• Antisemitism: hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious, ethnic, or racial group
• Homophobic:  having or showing a dislike of or prejudice against homosexual people
• Misogynistic definition, reflecting or exhibiting hatred, dislike, mistrust, or mistreatment of women.

• injury or damage resulting from some judgment or action of another in disregard of one’s rights; especially detriment to one’s legal rights or claims.
• preconceived judgment or opinion. (2) :an adverse opinion or leaning formed without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge.
• an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason.
• any preconceived opinion or feeling, either favorable or unfavorable. unreasonable feelings, opinions, or attitudes, especially of a hostile nature, regarding an ethnic, racial, social, or religious group.

• War
• Indebtedness
• Children sold
• Pirates sell captives
• Criminals
• Children of slaves become slaves

Two reasons the poor have large families. No, three I think. 1. It’s cultural. Roman Catholics are taught not to practice birth control. Latin countries in particular, heavily Roman Catholic ,tend to have large families. 2. Fucking is fun. No further explanation needed there. 3. Having a child is an act of creation. There are very deep connections to our psyche and our spiritual natures that impel us to share in the creation process.  When you have nothing else, when you feel that your are unloved and unloveable, creating a child gives a person affirmation because of their dependency and unconditional love toward their parents. I think that those are the most powerful reasons. A dog would be cheaper, but it can’t say, “I love you.” To add a few more– 4. Before the Industrial Revolution, a family’s survival depended upon being able to produce food or having a product or skill that others needed. Having lots of children provided more workers to provide for the family. 5. Children provide a sort of immortality. The family name and traditions are carried on through their children. 6. The high infant mortality rate before the discovery of penicillin and modern medicine plus the relatively short average lifespan even 200 or 300 years ago encouraged large families to survive at all. 7. Having many children increases your chances of having somebody to take care of you in your declining years.

Not taking care of them is a recent phenomenon. Families before mechanized transportation lived close together in clans. All living relatives lived in the same village or area. Children were not necessarily raised by their parents alone, but by a community of relatives. People were more interdependent and certainly provincial. With growing independence, mobility and affluence, we have become more self-centered. In the past, the influence of religion, through more fear and tradition than conviction placed controls on acceptable behavior. Today, that’s hardly a factor. Many modern parents want children but don’t want them to interfere with their own selfishness. They are cute for a little while, but then the constraints that they place on the parents’ freedom for self indulgence make the parents resentful and sometimes neglectful. Anyway, those are some of my thoughts on the subject.

In the course of our lives, each of us eventually has to come to terms with our own mortality and with the loss of those we love.  We know that the time is coming when we parents, aunts, uncles, cousins and sometimes even children pass out of our lives and on to what we imagine to be a place far better than this world.  Even so, their passing is painful beyond words to us who are left behind.  There is an emptiness, a sadness, a longing that fades a little with time, but is always there.  We wake in the middle of the night and it’s there.  We may feel it on a rainy day.  Thoughts and memories of those who have gone before make sleep elude us sometimes.  A song or smell or a word or a place will trigger a memory, sometimes sweet, other times happy, sometime sad and even on occasion, angry.

Mom died ten years ago and it will soon be four years for Dad.  A week ago while sight seeing in Costa Rica, I stopped for lunch at a little place in the mountains. It happened to have a railroad theme.  Everywhere were pictures and scale models of trains, lanterns, ties, spikes and numerous other memorabilia from trains.  The owner saw me going around taking pictures of everything and came over to talk.  He was a collector and historian of railroad lore and items.  I had a wonderful time talking with him and couldn’t keep thinking about how much Dad would have enjoyed the place.  My heart ached for him.  The owner had also planted flowers and plants on the grounds and even had some paths for visitors to browse.  Birds were singing.  Flowers were in profusion and I thought of how much Mom would have loved the place as well.  I was overwhelmed with emotion and had a difficult time talking.  It was such a wonderful experience to bring to memory the very spirits of Dad and Mom in that place.  And it happened completely by accident — or perhaps God had a hand in it.  I don’t know.  Throughout my visit, I kept thinking about Mom, Dad and my children and grandchildren, wishing that they could be there to share with me the priceless and unforgettable three weeks that I spent in Costa Rica.

What may seem to be an enjoyable, but insignificant experience with a loved one at the time becomes a treasured memory once they are separated by death.  Having the opportunity to spend extended time with my parents toward the end of their lives became a priceless gift to me.  I believe that it was also a gift that I could offer to my parents.  Children can never fathom the joy that parents take when they share their lives  with them.  They don’t understand how much a visit, phone call, email, text or whatever method of communication they use can mean.  I urge anybody who reads this to create as many moments together with your parent or child as possible.  The rewards of those shared experiences only increase with time and multiply exponentially once the door is closed to the possibility of creating more.

My parents made mistakes.  All parents do.  I know that I made my share of mistakes and had many failures as a parent, a husband, a friend.  I always wanted to do what was right, wise and best in all those roles.  My intentions were noble, but my ignorance, weakness, foolishness, blindness and other faults too often sabotaged my good intentions.  I’m certain that the same can be said of my parents, and theirs.  Having made all those disclaimers, I fully believe that I was blessed beyond most for having the parents that I did.  Whatever good I have done and am today I owe to them.

I was shocked when one of my children, going through the trials of teenage years asked me, “Why should I go on living?”  It’s a question that I suspect every person asks themselves more than  once in their lifetime.  But it cuts to the quick to hear your child ask that question.  We got through that stormy, difficult period.  Not too many years later, I was asking the same question myself.  Thanks to God, friends, family, therapy and medication, I haven’t asked that question in a long time.  But when one is running or limping the last mile of their journey, the question comes up with increasing frequency.  My mother posed the question as her health and mental faculties declined.  Dad asked the question often.  Once, in frustration he exclaimed, “I’m just an old man who can’t die.”  When you are old, in constant pain, confined to a wheel chair or bed, when every part of your body has betrayed you — sight, hearing, taste, especially your mind — is life really worth living?  When you find yourself in a care facility with strangers, eating food that you don’t like, swallowing pills by the handful, having given up your home and things collected over the years that hold special, sentimental meaning to you,  you ask,  “What’s the point?  Why am I still living?”  Whatever you accomplished in life lies behind you.  No more mountains to climb.  No more dragons to slay.  So what is my purpose?  Why must I endure this misery?  Why must I be a burden on my family?

As for me, I’m approaching sixty-nine years of age,  I simply cannot believe it.  I thank God for my measure of health, for a roof over my head, for food and security, for a loving family, partner, many friends and for living in this great country.  A day will come in the foreseeable but hopefully not immediate future when I will be asking the difficult questions myself. There remain only a few threads connecting me to the past generation.  Some are threads and some are chains.  I’ve been able to break some the chains that held me back — habits, mannerisms, false beliefs, self doubts — but some remain.

So here are some of my answers. I want to hold on to the threads connecting me to my past, to my heritage, my memories.  Those links to my aunts and uncles grow ever thinner and I want to hold on to them forever.  They represent the collected experience, knowledge and wisdom of their generation and knowledge of things that affect me that I’ve forgotten or never knew.  Countless are the times that I have wanted to ask a question or for advice from my mother or father, but they are beyond my reach.

When the older generation is gone, I have no place to go. I’m not ready for that!   Our understanding of ourselves requires a knowledge of our personal history.  Our parents and their generation are the keepers of that information.  After my Aunt Hazel died, my mother said, “I have nobody left to ask.”  We need to prepare ourselves to become the caretakers of our history, culture, traditions and beliefs.   Whatever history has not been passed down is lost. Our elders, with their memories and experiences are treasures.  They are our roots, our firm foundation, the keys to our own identities. Too soon I will take their place as the older generation.  The loss of so many, each leaving an void in my heart is a sobering thought.  But they are still with me in memory and in their influence upon the person that I have become.  And I rejoice in the people who have come into my life — children, grandchildren, friends who can never replace the ones lost in death, but they enrich and augment my life in countless ways.

“What good am I?” The older generation, removed from the daily pressures of life, survival and duties can reflect upon what is important and lasting in life.  That wisdom and knowledge is there if we but take time to ask, to spend time with the older folks. When we are young and even middle-aged, we are so consumed with our careers, raising our children, living from day to day, that we lack perspective. I believe that you truly begin to understand and appreciate life from the elderly.  They provide that perspective.

My parents were my strength, my go-to for answers, help, love, security, whatever I needed.  That was especially true of my Dad.  He was physically strong, always seemed to know what to do and how to do it.  They were both loving, caring, compassionate people of faith and conviction.  To watch them erode into helplessness tore my heart out.  But when I witnessed my father taking care of my mother patiently, without complaint, faithfully seeing to her needs, covering for her failures in mind and body, I saw a strength and perseverance that I never knew before.  Only after Mom died did we come to realize all that he was doing.  And then to witness how he faced and endured hospitalizations, multiple surgeries, falls, hallucinations, loss of function — all without complaint or self pity, I came to understand that his strength extended far beyond the physical.  He demonstrated strength of character with perseverance and nobility.  I have observed this in many of the elderly.  To maintain a sense of humor and positive spirit in the face of great and often protracted adversity influences and inspires the rest of us to be better, braver, more appreciative others.

My parents and other elderly people worry about becoming a burden to their families.  I understand that and feel the same way.  I have joked many times that when I become a burden “Get the pillow!”  It’s not completely a joke.  However, though I acknowledge that illness can become a burden, it is a willingly and gladly borne as their last measure of devotion by those who love them.  A child can never repay a parent for their sacrifices of time, money, care, encouragement and countless other things that parents provide for their children.  Seeing to the needs of an elderly parent can be a joyful, fulfilling experience despite the hardships.   But when recovery is hopeless and quality of life is nil, don’t forget the pillow.

The final thought about the value of the elderly was expressed by the Apostle Paul in Philippians, chapter 1.  “I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me.”  Believers can endure suffering, hardship and dying with a dignity and confidence not attainable by unbelievers. We look to a better place than this world of trouble, injustice, pain, suffering, hunger and toil.  This life is the place of refinement and preparation for a life beyond anything we are able to imagine.  But while we are in this world and this life, we have a peace, comfort and a joy that comes from living a life of devotion and service to God. Living by those tenets makes for a better world and a better person.  To witness such a person as they live their life and as they approach the transition to the better place challenges and inspires those of us who remain to hold fast to our faith with dignity and conviction.  These are my heroes.