Care of the Aged
45
Should Remain Among Friends
The aged also need the helpful influences of the family. In the
home of brethren and sisters in Christ can most nearly be made up to
them the loss of their own home. If encouraged to share in the interests
and occupations of the household, it will help them to feel that their
usefulness is not at an end. Make them feel that their help is valued,
that there is something yet for them to do in ministering to others, and
it will cheer their hearts and give interest to their lives.
So far as possible let those whose whitening heads and failing steps
show that they are drawing near to the grave remain among friends
and familiar associations. Let them worship among those whom they
have known and loved. Let them be cared for by loving and tender
hands.
Whenever they are able to do so, it should be the privilege of the
members of every family to minister to their own kindred. When this
cannot be, the work belongs to the church, and it should be accepted
both as a privilege and as a duty. All who possess Christ’s spirit will
have a tender regard for the feeble and the aged.
[59]
The presence in our homes of one of these helpless ones is a pre-
cious opportunity to cooperate with Christ in His ministry of mercy
and to develop traits of character like His. There is a blessing in the
association of the old and the young. The young may bring sunshine
into the hearts and lives of the aged. Those whose hold on life is weak-
ening need the benefit of contact with the hopefulness and buoyancy
of youth. And the young may be helped by the wisdom and experi-
ence of the old. Above all, they need to learn the lesson of unselfish
ministry. The presence of one in need of sympathy and forbearance
and self-sacrificing love would be to many a household a priceless
blessing. It would sweeten and refine the home life, and call forth in
old and young those Christlike graces that would make them beautiful
with a divine beauty and rich in heaven’s imperishable treasure.—
The
Ministry of Healing, 204, 205
.
Ellen White’s Care for Her Parents
[
Robert and Eunice Harmon, Ellen White’s parents, lived for a
time with James and Ellen White in their home on Wood Street in