Walk the Path with Me: Devotions for Dementia, Part 2
Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash
This is the second part of a two-part series of devotions from Rev. Lori Broschat for use with those living with dementia. Read Part 1 here.
How does dementia change our perception of life? Is it scary? Does it affect our relationship to God? What we really want to know is where is God in the midst of our dementia and other diseases of the mind?
I’m fortunate enough to have decent cognition most of the time. Sometimes I can still recognize when I have gone off the rails. Then there are the times when I can’t follow a conversation. Since writing is so natural for me, I assume it will last longer than some of my other functions.
I used to say of my clergy life, “Words are all I have.” One piece of my life dementia hasn’t stolen away is my vocabulary and my skill for joining words together in ways that cheer, encourage, and stimulate, but also charge, inspire, and engage. We don’t need to have all the same symptoms to understand someone who is not well. Realities like frustration, fear, anger, regret, sorrow, worry, depression, loneliness, aging and loss are common enough to all people but dementia adds another burden not as easily explained as others are.
It is then with words that that I leave you with two devotionals for people with dementia, Alzheimer’s, and other problems common to aging.
A couple quick reminders:
I prefer a short format with memorable and engaging scripture and prayer. If frustration arises, I find things go better with a bit of singing, so be flexible.
A preferred pattern is a short prayer, Scripture reading, devotion, short closing prayer. If your loved one or patient is responding well, perhaps offer additional prayer for family and friends, facility staff, etc. If patients are not responsive, I usually move into the Lord’s Prayer, which often engages the person.
Devotion #3 - Isaiah 12 - Praise God in the Moment
By my count I have moved twelve times in my life, starting at 17 when I left for college. That stay was interrupted by my father’s death, which caused me to make the first of several knee jerk decisions to move. I felt like a boat with no anchor, floundering in a sea of grief I did not know how to navigate.
My move didn’t last long, and I was soon on to the next impetuous choice in my life, entering a career I liked but for which the market was flooded. I would change jobs a few more times, most notably from a medical transcriptionist to a church pastor.
A call on your life is hard to explain to people. Family was skeptical, thinking maybe I was confused, worrying about my future ability to raise my daughter on an uncertain salary.
I can understand their hesitancy, especially when I look back at my early salaries and compensation. The major move occurred when I was a divorced single mom enrolled in a seminary education of three years, and I was taking my daughter hundreds of miles from home to a new way of life.
I won’t say it was easy. In some ways it was challenging and rewarding, one not easily attainable without the other. My daughter had some events that affected her mental health, which complicated both our lives.
My decision to leave home, change vocations, and involve my daughter in some life-changing decisions was not without pain. A great deal of who I am now seems inconsistent with the time I spent after seminary, but that’s a different narrative. When I read the 12th chapter of Isaiah, I feel like I’m reading my autobiography.
I feel the emotion of the author right from the first sentence. I have given thanks to God even when I had angered Him. I did (do) consider Him my Lord, my salvation, my reason for trust and bravery.
These days of my life where God is leading me can cause me frustration, despair, and low periods where I look back at how I came to be in the life status I am in now: unable to work, awaiting help from legal sources, and living a much different life in retirement than I would have dreamt when I left home for seminary 26 years ago. I now live in government housing, reliant on funding to pay rent, buy food, obtain healthcare.
How am I able to live this way? Because I know God is my strength and song. He has become my salvation. Because of Christ I can cry aloud and shout for joy, even if I’m temporarily disturbed or angry. I do shout for joy, I praise the Holy One of Israel, who is great in our midst.
And when I lay down to sleep each night, I give thanks to the God and Savior who have walked this path with me.
Devotion #4 - Isaiah 61:1-7 - Comfort
I’ve never lived in a country with a king in charge of a body of people or a country and all its holdings. My view of monarchy or royalty is formed through fiction and fairy tales. Unless I read Scripture from the Old Testament I seldom spend much time speaking about kingdoms or the power of a monarch.
So, when I read from the Old Testament books of the prophets, I try to put myself in the place of those who heard the prophets in person. What must those present have thought about some of the most inspiring words of prophetic messages?
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.” How would a message like this be received today as compelling as they sound, for the poor, anyway? And what about the remainder of these verses, every line proclaiming a reversal of fortune, so to speak.
Healing for the brokenhearted, liberty to captives, freed to prisoners; each line holds a new promise to those listening to the prophet’s words. Are these words still meaningful for us today? Sometimes when I have a difficult day I may wonder if God’s promises mean anything to us personally.
Do you ever feel this way? We have the words of these prophets from hundreds of years ago. Do they belong to history or biblical scholarship, or can we truly claim them for ourselves?
Listen again as you read Isaiah’s message to waiting people in expectation of their messiah. “He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of our vengeance, to comfort all who mourn, to provide for those who mourn, to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes.”
God’s words last from generation to generation, they survive all the damages brought on by aging and disease. They stand the test of time and all the ups and downs we may face. They provide a source of comfort from sorrow and grief, to replace our clothes of ashes with a crown.
This may sound fanciful or poetic but rest assured God does not offer mere words for our comfort. God provides a place for us to find rest for our souls and support for our sagging spirits. With God we find what we need to navigate the stormy seas of life and climb the obstacles in our way.
