Have you ever thought about what you would do if your mate had a serious illness that was going to be ongoing for a long time? Have you ever found yourself taking care of a loved one and discovered that you didn't have as much patience as you thought you did? What would you do if your mate really needed 24 hour care and you were the one doing it? How would you decide if a nursing home, or home health, or live in assistance or doing the care yourself was the best idea?
We have a friend who has been ill for 40 years with Parkinson's Disease. It has progressed to the point where she is basically bent in half and requires round-the-clock care. She and her husband have been married for 61 years, and she remains at home with live-in care. Another couple we know deal with having endured several strokes, and the partner of nearly half a century, lovingly cares at home, and they even go on trips together.
Do a bit of self-evaluation. What would it take for you to give up on your marriage? Would you take the easier path of not dealing with an invalid partner, by just placing them in a facility when you could make some arrangements for in-home care so that you can be together? One of the saddest pictures to look at is a couple who have lost their partner into Alzheimer's Disease. The mate looks perfectly healthy, but the eyes are vacant and the mind confused and forgetful. How difficult is would be to have your mate slip away while still with you.
Watching couples who are devoted and committed to each other regardless of the blows that life brings them is inspiring. We are being blessed this week by such a couple visiting in our home. God Bless them both for 48 years of adoration and commitment, regardless of life's hardships.
Think on this . . . what would you do? what have you done? How has it felt and how have you coped. Your comments are welcomed!!
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Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Countdown
Four days and counting to the anniversary of one of America's most horrific days - September 11, 2001. So many are attempting to get prepared for the worst, as the enemy has warned and predicted another doomsday for America on this anniversary. TV stations are posting something every day about what transpired ten years ago. Our local station, each day this week, is recalling what happened ten years ago on each day leading up to the famous attack on our country.
For many, the stress connected with the memory and the stress created in the process of recall, is devastating! New York City is on VERY high alert. Police officers and security guards are to be seen and unseen everywhere, and the memorial of the event and the fountains created to memorialize the dead from that event are presented to the world this coming Sunday. Families of those whose lives were snuffed out on that day, not only in New York City, but also at the Pentagon and in a Pennsylvania field, will gather for a special day of honoring the deceased and all of those who valiantly fought to save lives in that attack.
The world remembers September 11th on September 11th, but the loved ones of those who died, remember every day. Wars and rumors of war abound - Iraq, Iran, Afganistan, Syria, Palestine, Israel, North and South Korea, VietNam. And the two great world wars fought in Europe, the war against personal freedom and dignity daily fought in Communist countries - it seems to me like a whole lot of war to remember, instead of a whole lot of peace!
What many do not comprehend, is that the war between good and evil has been being fought since the beginning of time. The instigator has one thing in mind - divide and conquer. The war is raged in our heads, dividing us within ourselves (head vs. heart). It rages in our marriages and homes - our personal need to be right; to be top dog. It is the war that devastated us in our early childhood years that keeps being fought on the battlefields of our minds, and dumped on those we profess to love.
Peace is an internal experience that begins within each of us. It is our own unsettling, usually caused by early experiences of wounds received, that causes us to lash out, in an attempt to see to it that we can survive. That need for self-protection, built in to us in our brains, when dominant in our lives, can be a great detriment to peace. It separates the love of the human heart from the survival brain and we are left with self-protective behaviors with minimal if any love from the heart.
So yes, doomsday is coming; we may be attacked again by the enemy of our country. The greater question is, will our need for self-protection and survival outweigh the love in our hearts? Can we have both? The answer is YES! Check out www.kardiakare.com and read about it.
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For many, the stress connected with the memory and the stress created in the process of recall, is devastating! New York City is on VERY high alert. Police officers and security guards are to be seen and unseen everywhere, and the memorial of the event and the fountains created to memorialize the dead from that event are presented to the world this coming Sunday. Families of those whose lives were snuffed out on that day, not only in New York City, but also at the Pentagon and in a Pennsylvania field, will gather for a special day of honoring the deceased and all of those who valiantly fought to save lives in that attack.
The world remembers September 11th on September 11th, but the loved ones of those who died, remember every day. Wars and rumors of war abound - Iraq, Iran, Afganistan, Syria, Palestine, Israel, North and South Korea, VietNam. And the two great world wars fought in Europe, the war against personal freedom and dignity daily fought in Communist countries - it seems to me like a whole lot of war to remember, instead of a whole lot of peace!
What many do not comprehend, is that the war between good and evil has been being fought since the beginning of time. The instigator has one thing in mind - divide and conquer. The war is raged in our heads, dividing us within ourselves (head vs. heart). It rages in our marriages and homes - our personal need to be right; to be top dog. It is the war that devastated us in our early childhood years that keeps being fought on the battlefields of our minds, and dumped on those we profess to love.
Peace is an internal experience that begins within each of us. It is our own unsettling, usually caused by early experiences of wounds received, that causes us to lash out, in an attempt to see to it that we can survive. That need for self-protection, built in to us in our brains, when dominant in our lives, can be a great detriment to peace. It separates the love of the human heart from the survival brain and we are left with self-protective behaviors with minimal if any love from the heart.
So yes, doomsday is coming; we may be attacked again by the enemy of our country. The greater question is, will our need for self-protection and survival outweigh the love in our hearts? Can we have both? The answer is YES! Check out www.kardiakare.com and read about it.
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