6 Cycles of Family The Loss of Parents

6 Cycles of Family

The Loss of Parents 

More than sorrow it is a reality, we are next 

The reality is your latter days can accomplish more than your former years

If we gain a heart of wisdom

We can lose a parent any time in life and whenever

that loss comes it challenges our heart and mind.

Many times the loss of a parent

comes when the nest is empty.

I just talked to a friend who told me the weekend

his son got married his mother died unexpectedly.

For many, when our nest becomes empty,

we find ourselves taking care of our parents.

The freedom we looked to experience

 shifts to a caregiver again. 

In January of 2016, my father was admitted to

the hospital with complications from renal failure.

My dad refused to live a life without quality.

Rejecting dialysis, hospice was his choice.

The day my dad made that choice Sandy and I along with Marty

and Crystal got in the car and drove to Florida to be with him.

The expectation was 3 to 4 days.

My Dad went on to live for 4 weeks.

I am so glad for that time to be

with him and help care for him.

I miss my Dad and think about him often.

One of the other things we deal with when our

parents are gone is the reality we are next in line.

The thought of how many more years do I have left and

what will be the quality of those years are on my mind.

The key question is… how will I use

 those years, months, weeks, ????

Your children and grandchildren

will also be counting your days.

Yes, death happens to all of us.

Moses watched a whole generation

die off in the wilderness.

The dying generation wandered aimlessly

because they would not act in faith.

They would not take the promises and

provisions God had for them in a new land.

It was a bad retirement plan.

Moses writes about this journey

and what he discovered through the

process of one funeral after another.

   

He says, “Teach us to number our days aright,

that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

“May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us;

establish the work of our hands for us —

yes, establish the work of our hands.”

As our children leave the nest and

our parents leave the earth…

Don’t let your life become empty.

Number each day as God numbers them.

Let God establish the work, the things you do.

Retirement is more than fishing and golf.

It is looking at every day with a heart of wisdom.

The reality is your latter days can

accomplish more than your former years.

There are 6 cycles for a family to navigate 

“Cycles of family life”

The marriage

Bearing children

Raising children

The empty nest / launching new family

The declining years

Death in the marriage

Family cycles should be a great experience for the whole family

Scripture Reading

Psalm 90 NIV

0 Lord, you have been our dwelling place

throughout all generations.

2 Before the mountains were born

or you brought forth the earth and the world,

from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

3 You turn men back to dust,

saying, "Return to dust, O sons of men."

4 For a thousand years in your sight

are like a day that has just gone by,

or like a watch in the night.

5 You sweep men away in the sleep of death;

they are like the new grass of the morning — 

6 though in the morning it springs up new,

by evening it is dry and withered.

7 We are consumed by your anger

and terrified by your indignation.

8 You have set our iniquities before you,

our secret sins in the light of your presence.

9 All our days pass away under your wrath;

we finish our years with a moan.

10 The length of our days is seventy years —

or eighty, if we have the strength;

yet their span is but trouble and sorrow,

for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

11 Who knows the power of your anger?

For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.

12 Teach us to number our days aright,

that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

13 Relent, O Lord! How long will it be?

Have compassion on your servants.

14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,

that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,

for as many years as we have seen trouble.

16 May your deeds be shown to your servants,

your splendor to their children.

17 May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon

us;

establish the work of our hands for us —

yes, establish the work of our hands.