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Try to see the disabilities of aging through the eyes of your parents. Arthritis eats at your joints. Teeth go bad. You can't hear or see as well as you used to. Mysterious pains play hide-and-seek throughout your frame. Even your mind gets foggy and at the most embarrassing moments. You look into the mirror and think, Who is that old person looking back at me? A trip to the grocery store becomes an expedition requiring most of your energy for the day. Yet you remember when groceries were something you took care of between one kid's soccer practice and the other's trumpet lesson. Worst of all, you know your physical failings will get worse before they get better.

Help your parents accept their limitations with creativity and humor—and even prepare for death. Then focus on the "better." First Corinthians 15 offers a triumphant picture of victory over death. "Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep" (15:20). Paul described the hope of healthy new bodies, fit for eternity with Jesus. If you can help your parents accept that physical disabilities are temporary and even death a brief (if fearsome) interlude aimed toward eternity, we can help them age with dignity, grace, and hope. (See also Psalm 25; Proverbs 23:22-25; Joel 2:28-32; 1 Timothy 5:1-7.)

The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power … then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." "O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?" 1 Corinthians 15:42-55

Do you discuss death and aging with your parents, or do you sidestep those issues? Why?

Copyright 2001 by the author or Christianity Today International/Christian Bible Studies.

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