From Ministering Like a Prophet, by Kelly Merrill continues in his book, “A Little Book of Ministering”:
The widow’s home is generally not large or ornate. Frequently it is modest in size and humble in appearance. Often it is tucked away at the top of the stairs or at the back of a hallway and consists of but one room. To such homes he sends you and me.
Death doesn’t always bring with it large insurance checks or expansive inheritance. Many, and these numbers are growing alarmingly, get to retirement and find that they haven’t saved nearly what is needed for them to provide for themselves in their old age. As time goes on and inflation eats ever deeper into the retiree’s remaining funds, their needs expand proportionately. How many people do you know who are willing to openly confess they are in financial straits or that they struggle every day to manage on what they have coming in?
But how will we know if this is the case? We can’t expect those we have been assigned to help to hang a sign on their door detailing their financial or mental conditions. This goes back to the word “concern.” Do we care enough for those we visit to look for signs of need? Are we praying about them on a regular basis to know how we can bless their lives? Are they, like our children and other family members, ever present in our hearts and prayers? They should be.
The ranks of those in special need grow larger every day. Note the obituary page of your newspaper. Here the drama of life unfolds to our view. Death comes to all mankind. It comes to the aged as they walk on faltering feet. Its summons are heard by those who have barely reached midway in life’s journey, and it often hushes the laughter of little children.
Loss is not just for the elderly. People lose children to cancer, accidents and to simple things, like flu or whooping cough. There are a thousand and one ways for people to lose a loved one. When visiting a neighbor, have you looked around the home for people you haven’t seen before? These may be extended family, but they may also be loved ones they have lost. Just because someone died 15 years ago doesn’t mean they aren’t still missed. It doesn’t mean the pain is gone from the survivor’s life. Are we sensitive to these feelings? Do we show or express our concern or empathy or sympathy for what has happened to that person or their family life?
After the funeral flowers fade, the well wishes of friends become memories, the prayers offered and words spoken dim in the corridors of the mind. Those who grieve frequently join the vast throng I shell entitle “The Long Line of the Lonely.” Missed is the laughter of children, the commotion of teenagers, and the tender loving concern of a departed companion. The clock ticks more loudly, time passes more slowly, and four walls do indeed a prison make.~~~Kelly Merrill, A Little Book of Ministering, www.mormonbasics.com (website address) p.4-6 (continued, see Ministering Like a Prophet III)
