Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Grandparents and Relatives

Recently I was listening in on a conversation brought up by these verses from Matthew 25:


34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 
35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
   37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
   40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
   41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
   44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
   45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
   46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

In the course of the conversation we discussed our responses to the poor and beggars and in time our conversations led to discussing grandparents. It seemed to me as if most of those talking rarely see their grandparents. Whether that is because of them not being believers, or seeing life "differently", or busyness in life or other reasons I don't know exactly. But I do know this saddened me very, very much. 

I started wondering if in not seeing our relatives we are just as bad as those who didn't care for the Lord and asked him when they had seen him in need. Perhaps differences arise in family's which keep us from spending time together. But I feel it is our duty and our privilege to care for the elderly in our families and those we can. 


Perhaps the fact that my family is an ocean away also made this so sad for me. Here are loved ones just minutes or hours apart and yet they and we don't care for one another! This can't be right?! Can it? If only my grandma were a short ways away I would invite her to come and spend some days with me. 


It is easy to talk when being with my family is so hard to do. I need to do better at also calling and sending letters. But I guess my challenge is for you my friend, don't neglect your loved ones for lack of differences, or busyness. Time is so short, you may be the only living witness they ever see. It is NOT enough to just hear about Jesus from others, our family needs to see and feel Jesus in and through us. 


I have one living grandma. I wish I could see her more. 


I love you Grandma! 

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