Article March 22, 2010 Issue

THE TLC THAT NEVER FAILS

BY JANET CLEMENTS

Recently the White House proposed adding more than 52 million dollars to the Caregiver Initiative Programs that provide financial aid to families caring for elderly relatives. The fact that the number of Americans caring for elderly family members has tripled over the last ten years shows that it's a prime consideration of our times. And it's heartening to know that there are growing numbers of people engaged in this selfless work.

 This might encourage many to pause and think more deeply about caregiving from a spiritual perspective. From this vantage point one could ask: "Isn't there really only one constant caregiver, God, divine Love, sustaining and maintaining all creation?" The tender, loving care of the heavenly Father-Mother is a love that embraces us all and never fails. As the Bible puts it, "The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee" (Jer. 31:3).

To begin to grasp the idea that God is the caregiver of each one of us, opens new views of the source of all the loving care we express, as well as the energy supporting it. Unselfed love and giving don't originate in us, but come from God. Like a prism refracting light and displaying a rainbow of colors, so all the tender deeds of caregiving point to the spectrum of Love's loving. Our myriad acts of caring for our relatives really have their origin in Love, and as such are empowered by the Divine. As a ray of light doesn't try to shine on its own, but is energized by the sun, so we as caregivers shouldn't be trying to fulfill this role through our own initiative. The Love that motivates us is that same Love that energizes and sustains us.