Sanctity of Life

This past Sunday our church celebrated Sanctity of Life.  I didn’t google “sanctity of life” or look it up in the dictionary, but I believe that it means honoring the sacredness of human life.  It is a Sunday that we honor and celebrate life given to us by the One who created it and sustains it.  When we celebrate Sanctity of Life we often honor the tender lives of babies and children, the unborn, the aborted, and the orphan.  We often mention in passing or all together forget one group of people who are very near and dear to my heart, the elderly, and more specifically the widowed.  In this fast paced, progressive, status driven society in which we live, the elderly are often forgotten and viewed as useless.  Our society doesn’t value those who can’t be productive from a material aspect.  If they have nothing to give that is of worth, than they have no worth.  We also assume that the elderly and widowed are taken care of.  We assume that they have food, shelter, and competent health care providers.  Yes, in most cases, their physical needs are taken care of.  We live in a community that is blessed with beautiful facilities for the elderly to live and retire.  But there is so much more.  So much more.  I have found that these people are sometimes lonely, often isolated, and do have a feeling of uselessness.  They feel like they have nothing more to give.  In part, because that is what society is telling them, but also because they believe it themselves. 

I recently had a conversation with a widowed lady who was grieving.  She was not grieving the loss of the spouse she loved so dearly.  She did that years ago.  She was grieving the loss of the ability to do the craft that she had done for years.  Her eyesight is so impaired that she can no longer see well enough to make the tiny stiches required to make the beautiful rugs she once made.  While I was there she showed me some of her finished rugs, recalling when she started and finished each one of them.  It broke my heart to hear the sadness in  her voice when she talked about the last rug she made.  For her it was the loss of crafting, for others it is the loss of mobility, for others it is the loss of their home.  The elderly grieve loss after loss.  I can’t give them back the ability to drive, 20/20 vision, their home of 42 years, or a beloved spouse.  What I can give them is a listening ear as they grieve that loss.  I can honor the sacred life that God gave them by encouraging them, learning from them, and showing them that their life does have worth.  These women are mothers, grandmother, great grandmother, some are great-great grandmothers.  They are prayer warriors.  They have humble and grateful hearts.  I hear them testify to God’s goodness and faithfulness to them and their families.  These women are leaving a legacy of love, grace, and faith for their families, friends, and me.  That is a life of worth.  That is a sacred life. 

She who is truly a widow, left all alone,

has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day.

Timothy 5:5

 

Learn to do right; seek justice.
   Defend the oppressed.
Take up the cause of the fatherless;
   plead the case of the widow.

Isaiah 1:17