The Journey 121

Read: Genesis 27

Adult Day Care Centre: One of the remarkable  aspect about the life in United States especially with respect to people who are aged is the mushrooming of the adult day care centre's. Some have a definite agenda with regards to the welfare of the aged while some may have opened these day care centre's more as another financial remuneration option. But whatever be the case, I think adult day care centre's are here to stay. What is important about these day care centre's is that they create a vibrant and social community for aged and the seniors so that they are able to enjoy their day while receiving specialized medical care and also the emotional support as they go through one of the difficult phase in life. Almost all the centre's have specially trained staff so that each persons complex health-related needs are taken care of. Moreover the primary family caregivers of these seniors like their children, will have peace of mind knowing that their aging parent is spending the day in a safe, fun and socially engaging environment while also receiving expert medical care. What most of the adult day care centre's does is to simplify , co-ordinate and also bring an alternative with respect to the care of the aging parents and the responsibility of the  children, so that the children  are able to have more fruitful time  with their aging parents,  instead of feeling stressed and overwhelmed trying to manage their health and other age related issue in the precincts of a home. But whether there is day care centre to take care of the aging parents need, we need to understand that the primary role of taking care of the needs of the parents lies with the children. Hence the question that needs to be asked is “Does adult day care centers substitute or supplement the responsibility of the children towards their parents”.  The answer to this question will help us to understand what transformation in ones family is all about.

This week we are meditating on the theme “ Transformation in our Family Life” based on the family of Isaac and Rebecca from Genesis 27. Yesterday in our meditation we understood that both husband and wife have a primary commitment to each other. But both Isaac and Rebecca were not serious with their commitment to each other and on the contrary they hatched dubious plan with the children that they love against each of the spouse. The result of this conflict between parents is that the children, both Jacob and Esau also fight against each other, and it is in this context that Jacob cheats both his father and his brother thus taking the blessing that was reserved for his brother. Here are two brothers who have no commitment to their family ties nor are they concerned about their primary commitment to their parents. In Old Testament times, forgetting or not taking care of ones parents, and not giving them due respect was considered as a grave sin before Yahweh. It is here that when such a prevalent faith tradition was upheld by a nation, we find Jacob showing the  least amount of feelings towards his brother nor having  any commitment to his parents.  Jacob also goes a step further and has no qualms in cheating his father and his brother. Family is our primary commitment for all of us. We play the role of children and parents. God expects each of his children to give their parents due place and due respects in the family. In a culture where the role of the family itself is devalued, we as believers need to consciously take time and effort to build up our relationship with our parents and give due honour and respects to them so that, through that building of our relationship we are a witness to our commitment to our Lord and also we build up a generation of faith where every child understands that what God expects from each of us is to “ Honour your father and mother– which is the first commandment with a promise”.