Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“The grass withers, the flower fades;
but the word of our God will stand for ever.”
NL Daily Devotion for Wednesday, November 20, 2024
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Remember you are dust, and to dust you will return. My dad is in his eighties, now, and is absolutely on top of end-of-life details. When I first noticed—really noticed—that he had become “old,” I grieved a little. I can’t imagine a world without my dad. He’s always been my hero in so many ways. But in the last year or so, I have become so grateful for his frank openness about the fact that he probably won’t be around much longer (his dad lived to be 88, his mom to 84). We can talk business about it without it feeling cold. We can reminisce without it seeming gratuitous. And we can acknowledge the fact that “the word of our God will stand forever.” My dad’s faith has been a guide and an inspiration and a beacon for me for fifty-three years now. He will continue to exist in and with and through God, who was and is and is to come. I have no doubts about this, even as I have no idea what this will look like, practically speaking. I hope everyone is able to communicate about aging and dying and death with at least someone in their life, that we might always be reminded of the beauty of this word of comfort from Isaiah.
Am I comfortable talking about end-of-life details with my loved ones?
![1 Kings 17:1-16 [17-24], God’s Care for the Widow](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56b39b61ab48de92d991a40a/bf37035e-33d5-439f-a0d6-a68b02d0f1bc/24-11-03.jpg)
