It's just how life goes...

We come into this world with little else than a howling and some skin and two arms and two legs that don't work well.

We're totally helpless. Have to get people to hold us up, move us from place to place, someone to get the nipple into our mouths so we can eat. They have to put us to bed, wash our bodies, change our diapers and simply make all our decisions for us. They sit close to us so we can see their mouths move and we can hear the noises coming from their mouths so we, in turn, can somehow learn to say the same things they say, in order for us to some day become communicating human beings. We have to not only grow taller but we also grow some teeth.......not to mention hair so we don't look bald going to school.

So, after we manage to do all that changing as well as learning to look after ourselves reasonably well, seems like we're on our way. Oh ya. New braces on those second set of new teeth. Hair all shiny and lovely and styled. Funky and stylish clothes to adorn our grown up bodies. Our brains have been taking in a lot of stuff by the time we've completed school and university (for those who attend).

We're ready. Off we go into the adult world.

If we've made it that far, we stay there for the rest of our lives. Experiencing all the things life brings us.....new jobs, a spouse, children, a home, vacations with in-laws, fighting with neighbors, going to church.....you know, the regular living life stuff. ;)

But then we get older. We begin to revert back to the way we came in. We lose our independence, our teeth, our hearing, our hair, our vision, our memory, our sense of worth. We lose our dignity as well. Life sometimes just goes right back to us being the helpless creatures we were at the very beginning. We need feeding, washing, changing, people holding us up and sitting beside our faces so we can see their lips to know what they're saying. We have once again become dependent on others. It's just how life goes.

It is good to keep that cycle going of love and caring , to look after the ones who are older like they looked after us, to make them feel worthwhile and allow them a sense of dignity.

I'm thinking on these things, as I watch my dear Aunt these days. Strokes can revert one back to their original state much more quickly than one would like. So, I am watching and learning some things I needed to learn about caring for those I love.

I am also appreciating their wisdom....something we don't have when we first arrive here!

Proverbs 20:29 says:
"The glory of the young is their strength; the gray hair of experience is the splendor of the old."

A beautiful, wise, God-given statement!