Psalm 71:9,17-18, 2 Timothy 4:9-14
MY MOTHER (by Juan Salazar)
I wish to write of my mother
My mother loving and kind,
Who to me, more than any other,
Is the Idol of my mind.
No task was too great for her fingers.
Now they are wrinkled, twisted and bent;
Ah, my memory fondly lingers
On her ministries, heaven-sent.
Her beautiful raven tresses
Are fading to winter’s gray,
But the width of her caresses
Grows greater everyday.
Her face like an angel’s grow brighter
With the passing of the years,
And her voice makes the dark places lighter
As she wipes away my tears.
But every home where love abides
And friendship is a guest,
Is truly home and home sweet home!
For there the heart can rest.
She cared for me in my boyhood
With a love that can never be told
And that love in the years of my adulthood
Is even more precious than gold.
I was often wayward and careless
But she loved me just the same;
And when I was cruel and heartless,
Her heart condoned the shame.
My mother, my beautiful mother,
Thank God for your life sublime
You have taught us sister and brother
The noblest lesson of time.
That for others our lives should be given
That our actions should always be right
Your reward is secured up in heaven
A crown in the mansion’s light.
This morning let me reinforce the memory of the young man who wrote this poem in thanksgiving for his mother.
Psalms 71:17-18 calls our attention to the fact that the writer David was now old. He comes to us through Ps. 71 saying:
“Cast me not away from your presence; Forsake me not when my
strength fails.”
O God you have taught me from my youth and I have declared
your wonderful works. Now when I am old and with gray hairs,
O Lord forsake me not.”
This feeling is not the result of an old man’s hallucination. They were real fears and hurting. Of course, it may not be God that is forsaking him, it may be God’s chosen people whom God is depending upon to care for him that is forsaking him. Illustration: Pastor Gerardo Rojas.
Let us now focus on David’s plea for his needs, which I also know are the same plea that many of our elderly are yearning today.
- PHYSICAL AND MATERIALS NEEDS
Paul who at this time was on house arrest in Rome, is now old. He was writing to Timothy, an associate in his missionary work. In his letter he said: “When you come, please bring my coat which I left at Troas.”
It was winter and Paul needed his coat. In simple words Paul is telling us of the material and physical needs of the elderly among us. Let me tell you several stories to sensitize our concern for the elderly.
Stories:
An old woman force to eat raw eggplant.
The architectural planning of churches do not consider the needs of the elderly.
- SPIRITUALÂ NEEDS AND THE NEED TO BE USEFUL
Paul further wrote saying, “bring also my books and parchments.
Parchments speaks of the wisdom of the aged. The life of every elderly in our society has accumulated knowledge and practical wisdom of life. When Paul needed his parchments, it may imply to us that the knowledge and wisdom they have, are needed to be shared; to be brought out and be use. You see, there are truth in life which does not change. They are truth whose principle does not diminished through the passing of time.
Let us overcome the attitude prevailing today, disregarding the counsel and wisdom of the older folks.
Illust.
When I relate my experiences to our children for purposes of
teaching them, they would right away say, “Noon pa, dili na karon.”
In short Paul echoed this need when he said, “When I am old, forsake me not until I have declared your wonderful works to all generations.” so let us open to their opportunity of declaring the wonderful works of the Lord in their lives and in their own time.
Paul also asked that his books which refers to his Bible be brought to him.
This is a call for our attention that our elderly have spiritual needs which can only be responded when we give them special attention. This concern pop up during one women’s Bible sharing, when they realized that we have a good number of widows in our church but we have no program for them. In fact the office of the deacons and deaconesses were created during the early life of the church mainly to give special attention to the old people, widows and children.
- SOCIAL NEEDS.
Take note that Paul repeatedly said in his letter:
“Come very soon.”
“Bring Mark with you when you come”
“Do your best to come before winter.”
Here he spoke of human contact and caring relationship. Loneliness is one of the real problems that plague our elderly. They do not only need to belong, they need our real presence.
Our mother is now frail and sometimes feel alone. Caring for her social needs may mean that you have to make it a point to visit her every week or other week. Such visitation is always a time for sharing, laughing, praying and shedding of tears. She always anticipates our visit. There is a mother in Davao City during the early 90’s who was alone and lonely so we made it a point to visit very week. There was a month when we were very busy and was not able to visit her, when we did she literally jumped for joy when we appeared. She said, I thought you have been transferred to other place. Separated from her children by physical distance and some broken relationship, our presence and visit had provided caring relationship that is sustaining here during her last few years.
In Closing, let me again echo the call of two old men for all Mother today:
They say:
We are lonely! We need your presence!
We have material and physical needs!
Please bring them to us!
We have something to share,
give us that opportunity to share it.
Our spiritual life has been spent,
we need to be sustained by God’s Word and
His spirit.
Come very soon. Do your best to come before winter. And please bring your companions.