Wholly Family

We celebrated the day by visiting my grandmother, who has gradually declined into dementia. So the verse goes, "Honor your mother, even if her mind fail, be considerate."

Throughout the week my dad and his siblings go and spend time with her. Most of the time she doesn't know who they are or confuses them with the nursing staff. Periodically she has lucid moments, but she sleeps the days away. So very likely, if you visit, you'll just be sitting there while she sleeps. It's not exactly a visit.

We tried waking her up to no avail. As we sat there the verse came to mind. There is a value in simply being with a person who has nothing to offer in return, not even company or presence of mind. The sole value is simply in that we visited my grandmother, though it never registered with her that we were there at all, nor will it.

God makes these requests of us for a reason. She has nursing staff, so her needs are met. She doesn't need or benefit from our visit. There was no purpose in it. Yet our obligation to obey God by doing her this honor teaches us human worth- our own as much as hers. It mattered to God that we went, and that should be reason enough for anything He asks of us.