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A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day, with Debbie Thrower of the Bible Reading Fellowship and founding Anna Chaplain.

Good morning.

One of my abiding memories of my late father is of sitting with him in the gardens of his care home in summertime and offering him a fresh pear to eat. In his conf usion, he couldn’t handle the small knife I had brought with me to peel the pear, so I offered to do it for him.

It was only a few minutes sitting in the sun, sharing our enjoyment of the sights and sounds of a June day, the birdsong, and the juiciness of eating a perfect, ripe pear. But the memory has stayed with me of a golden moment of being together, helping him to feel loved and of savouring the sweetness of the fruit.

Dementia is an insidious disease; robbing us of so many memories, striking at the heart of our identity. That day my father was still very much my Dad, despite his symptoms.

Another time, in the home’s dining room when we had lunch together, he suddenly asked, ‘Is this the best hotel in Lyme Regis?’ It would have been futile to set him straight. ‘Yes’ I replied, and we both basked in his sense of enjoying what he perceived to be a most delicious lunch, in his mind’s eye at least!

As dementia takes hold, and cognitive function decreases, behaviour can become challenging, the effects for those with round-the-clock responsibility so tiring, something many will be thinking about during the approaching National Carers’ Week. As carers we have to remember that the essential person remains, and as someone made in the image of God- he or she is lovable, and infinitely precious.

Lord, you have invited us into your family through Christ; help us to love, honour and depend on each other so that our homes reflect the glorious togetherness of heaven.

Amen

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