Introduction to A Caregiver’s Advent

So here we are, it is Christmas Eve and we know how the story goes from here. On the home front however, we have just had to make the decision that my mother-in-law will not be going to church or anywhere else to do anything anymore because she is now too weak. And so...

            What is it with our creator and outcasts? His big move in penetrating to the depths of human experience was to create outcasts out of his chosen son, out of his mother, out of the man who would raise him as his son? All...

              One lesson Mary must have taken in the cold hard light of day after her angelic visitation and the social realities of her pregnancy in her religiously conservative community was that she must have been crazy to say...

            This morning I am feeling keenly again the pain of the outcast at Christmas as I consider the lot of two men close to me who will not be celebrating Christmas with their families because of the estrangement caused by their...

              I am a sensitive soul, wired that way from my early years, committed to making sure that my Mom(s) were happy. I was desperate for attention both at home and at school… particularly for the attention of perceived Mom(s)...

            Whether or not you are a follower of Jesus, likely you are familiar with stories of how our heavenly father, how Jesus forgave sinners. This time of year is a difficult time for families that have been torn apart following...

              Caregiver exhaustion is like being thirsty in a dry land. Everything is harder to do, energy is lower, joys if they come are fleeting, little bursts of energy and light that quickly subside back to the gathering gloom....

            A few weeks ago I experienced wild, irrational rage twice with different people close to me, rage that was quite uncharacteristic for me. I discussed this with my doctor in terms of caregiver burnout and she was deeply...

            Psalm 64 I awoke this morning with my "breast sore troubled within me". There is a lot of pressure in our home these days. While we have survived the steep increase in work that caring for my declining loved one requires,...

                      Why is it that different caregivers are impacted differently by the same situations? Why is it that only some first responders or members of the armed forces get PTSD while others in the...

            What is dying to self? If you have a Christian background you will have heard this phrase again and again, but what does it mean? If you are a long-term caregiver you have been experiencing "dying to self" as more and more of...

            Solomon prayed for wisdom when he was crowned King of Israel and became the wisest man alive. Yet after all was said and done this was his summation: I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are...

          This morning I had a welcome short flash of satisfaction and well-being before my grey blanket recovered its equilibrium and settled over me again. I had just finished getting my wife’s lunch and supper prepared and zipped up in her...

The word ‘compulsion’ makes me impatient for love’s sake; ‘Tis he who loves not who is fettered by compulsion. … O son, they understand this compulsion For whom God opens the eyes of the inner man. Things hidden and things future are plain to them; To speak of the...

          The seventh day of Advent, 2018 Caregivers are not alone in feeling overwhelmed with no end in sight. Many find themselves in life situations which are more than they can handle and so find themselves calling out to God for help,...

          The sixth day of Advent 2018 My friend C recently shared this poem with me… with the first and last stanzas resonating deeply with her. Locked out of Life - Rumi Again it happens in my sleep. A core of wakefulness opens. But I have...

The fifth day of Advent 2018 St. Teresa - patron saint of caregivers For millennia now, faithful souls, however they are serving - whether as caregivers or in other forms of loving self-sacrifice - have found themselves at times in a protracted period of darkness in...

The fourth day of Advent 2018 As each of these bitter thoughts and resolutions resurface in my mind, I surrender each of them to you Lord Jesus. If ever anyone had the right to withhold Grace from those who treated you hatefully you did, but you always asked for...

      December 4: the third day of Advent 2018 Many of us live life like we have a mission and purpose. I am a follower of Jesus seeking to bring light and healing to the wounded. I am a caregiver, giving myself to my in-laws, giving them the gift of a...