THANKING YOU ALL FOR YOUR LOVE AND PRAYERS
28/04/2022
I wanted to thank you all for the support we have felt from you all on social media as we sit by my dad's hospital bed.
I felt that it was too wonderful to just throw away in a short message, so I am sending out this blog.
My dad, Sam, has had dementia for close to ten years. Around six years ago he stopped recognising me. Five years ago my mum had a stroke and left us over a tragic weekend, probably caused by her loving care for Sam.
Dad has been in a home ever since and I have grieved every time I visited. Dementia is like a glass coffin. You have lost your loved one but have to continue to look in at them. It is harrowing.
Covid hasn't helped and we have had long stretches not seeing dad these last two years. It was good to see him last week and though I could see how frail he was, and Janice and I said our goodbyes just in case, I didn't expect us to be here so soon.
As I sit, watching and waiting, praying for a comfortable moving on I am drawn to an image that my friend Rev Doug Gay used at a funeral we shared recently.
It is the image of Jesus as the shepherd carrying a lamb on his shoulder. It was used a lot in the early church, found in catacombs, as an image of Jesus carrying us from one life to the next. Earlier this week in Rome I saw it in the catacombs. I hold it for my dad today, praying Psalm 23 over him.
I cannot express how precious all of your social media likes and messages have been. Every thought and prayer has moved us deeply. As did Eddie, Helen and Andrew's visits to pray today. It is wonderful to know that we are not alone.
So, keep using this social media for all the positive things that it can do. Pressing LIKE can lift a heart!
Love, Steve, Janice, Caitlin and Jasmine
Time is an invisible memory bank
Time leaves photographs counterfeit
Time turns and burns and churns
A tornado with nothing in control of it.
Time is a dance we do to its tune
Time is an artificial measuring space
Time it tumbles, rumbles and crumbles
A cage we make for us to pace.
Time is a capsule that is full of time
Time always seems to leak too fast
Time it breaks and cracks and takes
A hope of forever that never lasts.
Time has worn you out
Time has eroded your brain
Time has brought you down this cul-de-sac
With no turning circle back again.
Time if we could take it back
What time would we go back to
And if time took us back to there
What would I say to you
Would we use the word love
And would that word be enough.
Time.
Steve I'm praying for you as you wait with your dad. Praying you know the Father's arms as he surrounds you, Jesus companionship as he sits with you and Holy Spirits loving strength as he sustains you in the hours, days and weeks ahead.
I lost my precious daddy in Jan. Dementia too for 4 yrs and septsis in the end. There is beauty in the ashes, and I learning to make friends with grief.
Bless you Steve, I loved your photos from Rome.
Posted by: Michelle Scott | 28/04/2022 at 06:51 PM
I had already been meditating on the Hebrew text of Psalm 23 for much of the past week, preparing my thoughts in advance for a service following the lectionary readings on 8th May. Praying that goodness and faithful loving-kindness continue to follow you and your dad, just as you have now blessed me with a beautiful image of our Lord and shepherd to share with others in turn.
Posted by: Neville | 29/04/2022 at 04:59 PM