We suddenly find ourselves alone in more ways than one. A spouse dies and suddenly our friends do not know what to do with us. Wives fear that we wish to steal their husbands. Children have their own grief. Our social life is reduced to church on Sundays, doctor’s visits and grocery lists. We as a church have badly failed in our response to widows.
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep him self unspotted from the world. (James 1:27, KJV)
I don’t say this just because I am a widow, but because I see it so often, especially in my own community. Widows are wounded and worn and have forgotten how to connect with others. We hope others will connect with us, but they forget that we are alone and lonely.
God does look after us but sometimes he needs help from people with skin on.
A defender of widows is God in his holy dwelling. (Psalm 68:5b, NIV)
And if you need a further recommendation, remember that Jesus himself, when on the cross, asked one of his disciples to take over the care of his own mother, Mary.
Prayer: Father God, open our eyes to see the hurt around us. Give us opportunities to help the widows in our midst and treat them as we ourselves would want to be treated. Amen.
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