Sunday, August 23, 2009

Another trip to see Mom and Dad - Another life lesson

At the beginning of August I made another trip to Florida to spend a long weekend with Mom and Dad. For those of you who do not know - my Mom has battled Alzheimer's for a number of years and Dad has done an amazing job loving and serving her.

My siblings and I all take turns (one of us about every six weeks) going down to see them, helping out doing whatever we can for them. We all feel like Mom and Dad sacrificed greatly for us as we were growing up- and this is the least we can do to give back to them.

It's strange how the two people who gave themselves to help each of us - now need us to give back to them so their final years are as comfortable as possible.

One evening on this trip Mom and I were sitting on the couch. Mom had a trying evening and dad, who normally handles things very well, had gotten upset with her. She looked over at me with pain in her eyes and she said- "This is a terrible thing! " I looked into her eyes and said - "I know it is Mom and I am so sorry you are going through it!" She then said - "I'm going back to the doctors and we are going to get this taken care of." My heart just broke for Mom as we sat there. She was so frustrated. All of her life she found ways to get anything and everything done - but this was something that was beyond her ability to stop or turn around. Alzheimer's is a terrible disease slowly eating away at the life of it's victim. And in this case the victim is my Mom. I went on to try to assure my Mom that a day was coming when she will be in Heaven with our Lord and all of this terrible pain was going to be gone forever. But this brought little comfort to her that night.

There is one amazing blessing God has giving us in this trial - Mom is not angry - but has been very caring and concerned about others throughout this entire illness. Thank you Lord!

As I think about this recent trip and my love for my parents - I, once again, come face to face with how important it is for each of us to live in a way that blesses others and leaves behind a legacy of love.

Just recently I was thinking about how much my Mom believed in each of us. She spoke encouraging words to us all the time. And she told us we could do whatever it was we put our mind to do. What a blessing that was for us as children growing up.

I am generally a very optimistic person. The glass is half full - all the time. And this attitude has blessed my life greatly. (Thanks so much Mom!)

So who are you influencing right now? Are you blessing them with your words? Are you leaving behind you a legacy of love and godliness - or are you selfishly living life for yourself. There's still time to influence others for good - go for it!