Honor thy (grand)mother and (grand)father.

Again, totally not in the mood to write. Even if I wanted to write, I should work on my online class or trying to get something published, not wasting my time (and yours) blogging about nothing interesting. Sigh. But I'll do it anyway.

I was reading in I Timothy today and there's a lovely verse about taking care of the elderly. Yes, taking care of old fogies. Apparently it's a pretty big deal (or it was back in the day) to take care of your relatives, especially those unable to take care of themselves.

"Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need. But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God. . . . If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." I Timothy 5:3-8 (emphasis mine)



Now, I love my mom but today more than ever I realized how much I cannot live the rest of my life with her. I just can't! I love when we can sit around watching TV or eat lunch together, but that's about all of Mom I can handle.

Turns out we have a little unspoken deal. When I am a kid (and hopefully when I'm a poor college student) my mom will provide for me. If I need food, she'll make sure I get it. If I need snow boots, well, off to JC Penny's we go! That's in her Mommy Job Description.

But when I'm an adult and she's near dymensia, it's my duty to take care of her. (You know, throw her into a nursing home and all that.)

They cycle is thus complete.

But I wonder if that's what we're supposed to do. I mean, what kind of culture do we live in that we throw our elders into a sterile brick building with other fogies like themselves? Back in the day grandparents lived with their kids until their deathbed--and somehow everyone got along okay.

I'm not speaking out of experience because I don't have any grandparents, nor do I plan on letting my mom live with my husband and me. But it still has me thinking.

Do we honor our elders? Do we discredit them because they're not on the up-and-up with culture?



Ezek.