Ice cream. Mary, my mother-in-law, loves it. She would eat it all day, every day with a few Oreos thrown in for good measure. One thing we’ve learned with her dementia is she’s not aware of basic needs: hunger, thirst, even pain. She gets grumpy or frustrated, but can’t hone in on what’s bugging her.…

“Who are you?” My mother-in-law looked at me intently. “You go with Russell, right?” Right. The same thing happened with the kids. Following surgery, meds aggravated my mother-in-law’s dementia. She couldn’t stay by herself, so we took shifts. My daughter came to Granny’s apartment for her turn. All was fine when I left. Two hours…

Her knee hurt, and as she sat in the hospital bed, my mother-in-law didn’t know why. It could have been the surgery she had put off, but had finally had that morning, but she didn’t remember. She just knew her knee hurt. The following dialogue was on repeat until the anesthesia finally ended its dance…

My mother-in-law fidgeted with her IV and clawed at the ice pack on her leg. “Where am I?” The anesthesia and her moderate dementia teamed up for a few weeks following knee replacement surgery, and she couldn’t remember where she was. Even after we brought her home, my mother-in-law’s familiar surroundings were familiar no longer.…

Romans 12:21 (NIV) says, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” When I picture evil being overcome, I tend to think of the book of Revelation, but I think I’m wrong. Perhaps Revelation is God’s judgment of evil. Perhaps evil is overcome when it ceases to be evil by choosing to…

In last week’s post, “The Defense Rests,”  we talked about giving up our self defense and allowing God to handle it. But wait. There’s more. Leaving room for God’s wrath isn’t enough. The apostle Peter leads us to action in 1 Peter 3:9 (NIV), “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but…

Sometimes, I wonder if God really means what He says. Like the verse about turning the other cheek, “But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” (Matthew 5:39 NIV) Really? I’ve struggled with this one for years, but I…

Romans 12:9 (NIV) says, “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.” Hate what is evil. Sounds kinda harsh, doesn’t it? We’re taught not to hate, but instead, to be kind and tolerant. Hate the sin, not the sinner, right? But do we? Hate the sin? I think God gave…

Scaredy-cat! Chicken! I don’t tend to be a fearful person, other than a perfectly rational fear of snakes, but one of my greatest fears is I will not have a close parent-child relationship after my children transition to adulthood. My relationship with my parents is surface at best. I have friends who are close to…

Hugs. Time. Money. Sympathy. All things we can give, but check out this quote. Oswald Chambers said, “Never look for justice in this world, but never cease to give it.” That works for all kinds of things—love, mercy, forgiveness, but something else came to mind. One of the hardest things for me to give is…