Sylvester Ngonga Tuesday, September 14, 2021.
“Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.”
Pastor Gary Marburger requested me a week ago to consider writing a weekly devotion for the “homebound.” As the term suggests, these are our brothers and sisters affected with mobility restrictions due to reasons that may include ailments and changes in the body due to aging processes.
I took time to deeply reflect on a saying in my Luo mother tongue (a tribe in Kenya) as I considered the import of diminished strength and curtailed movement. The literal translation is, “No one is immune from disability as long as they live.”
The truth underlying this innocent saying hit me as I pondered how aging comes along with vicissitudes that weakens the body and curtails our vitality, strength, and mobility besides the afflictions that natural disasters and ailments bring upon our lives.
Such situations force us to accept that we can no longer do what we used to do or even go places that we loved to visit. We look back with nostalgia and say to ourselves, “if only.” These fleshly limitations saddle us with feelings of loneliness and sometimes regrets.
Despite everything that may be happening to us: our physical bodies wearing out and experiencing changes in shape and texture, changes in pleasures, reduced pace of life, and memory lapses, there is still hope!
Our mobility may be affected, bodies suffer and waste away, but we are more than flesh and blood. There is a silver lining beyond these temporary challenges. We can face the future with confidence and hope as our blessed assurance and hope of glory, Jesus Christ, renews us day by day!
Prayer:
Precious Lord.
As our bodies weaken, renew our intimate being.
When our legs falter, may our spirits be energized.
When our hearts faint, may your hope inspire your life in us.
When our memory fades, may your divine promises excite us.
When our eyesight dims, may we behold the beauty of your presence.
Amen!