Clinging to Life

Nursing homes are places that I have often visited as a minister. Such visits can be a vivid reality check regarding the dramatic effects of aging. These “assisted living” and “memory care” facilities are places for men and women who have reached the point of needing care that their families, for whatever reason, are unable to give.

I once visited a faithful Church member, grown old and infirm. As we conversed, I tried to encourage her. I commented that the facility she was in was a very lovely place, spotlessly clean and well-appointed. The dear lady looked at me sternly and said with feeling, “This is a place full of homesick people!”

I asked, “Are you homesick?”

She replied, “Son, this place will never be home.” I never forgot that poignant moment and her touching definition of a nursing home.

The sad experience of nursing-home life was brought home to me personally when my aged mother, suffering from Alzheimer’s and other serious health problems, reached a point in her healthcare needs that made it necessary for her to enter a facility that could provide the care she required. It was a move that my sister and I had said we would never take. Be careful when you say “never,” because circumstances can make you change your plans and require you to do things you do not want to do. Solomon wrote about this in Ecclesiastes 1:4 when he said, “One generation passes away, and another generation comes; but the earth abides forever.”

As I watched my mother, small and frail, suffering with diminished mental capacity from Alzheimer’s and languishing physically from other complications, I marveled at her resilience and ability to hang on. This was a person who had survived the 1927 flood of the Mississippi River in the Arkansas Delta, the Great Depression, and watching her husband go off to fight in the Second World War. She had worked in her small business for almost 45 years, survived cancer at age 63, and worked until she was 75 years old, then protested that she had quit “too soon.” This was a very independent lady who loved to read, who had started watercolor painting in her sixties, who loved sports, and who loved her family. She was a colorful, outspoken woman.

And then, as the disease came on, that woman was “gone,” and in her place was a frail, suffering loved one for whom nothing could be done except try to control the pain and make her comfortable while awaiting the inevitable. It was a difficult, painful time for those of us who loved her.

Why all this suffering? We don’t know all the myriad reasons or causes for all the afflictions that befall us. But there are some things that we do know: “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). So, we know that, as human beings, we all face death. Jesus said, “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation” (John 5:28–29).

So, while we, at whatever age, cling to life, we can know that there is a purpose for all that we do in this physical life, which is preparation for the wonderful life to come. The Bible says that in the resurrection, “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

So, in this life, savor the moments and treasure the memories of your time with loved ones—while looking forward to the glorious age to come, which we refer to as “tomorrow’s world.” You can learn more about this by requesting or reading online the free booklets What Is the Meaning of Life, What Happens When You Die?, and The World Ahead: What Will It Be Like?