Caregiving / 1 Timothy 5:1-25

Maybe it’s just this season in my life, but today’s reading touched me. "Bless the older folks. Respect them. Treat them kindly and with love. Take care of those in need."

My mother will be 94 next month and husband Terry and I are her full time caregivers. Her physical health is good, but her memory is not. She can’t live alone.

So many of us—millions!—are caring for others—parents, spouses, children—who need our help. Whether that means full-time-in-your-home care, or checking-in-frequently care, or arranging for loving and competent “other” care, we are caregiving.

We have put some part of our “own” lives on hold to care for others. We are making a sacrifice.

It’s a blessing. It’s a burden. It’s a joy and a privilege, and it’s exhausting and expensive.

Much like raising children, which is caregiving on the other end of life, it’s hard.

And it’s the right thing to do. The right thing is often the hard thing to do. In today’s passage, Paul assures Timothy—and all of us—that God sees. God knows. God cares.

Jesus, be my hands and my heart today. Help me to bear the “burden of the blessing” of loving and caring for others.