Oftentimes some of the most forgotten and neglected people on earth are the widowed and elderly. This post is primarily referring to the older widows, but in some cases can apply to the younger as well. I've come across people in India who felt like it was "bad luck" or some kind of curse if a widow's face is the first face they see in the morning. In many places in India, when the husband dies, in some perverted way the community will think it was the wife's fault that he died, even if she was a very loving and faithful wife. Recently, a young woman (about 35) lost her husband due to a tractor accident. She wasn't allowed off of her property for 2 months by her relatives and other community "elders". These people cannot give any logical reason for their rules, but these rules are the lingering effect of previous generations blaming the widow for her husband's death. In more primitive villages (I don't know if this is still taking place), the elders of the village would force the widow to go into the fire where her husband was being cremated.
Those things are done and believed in among those in more poor or primitive societies, but what about our own? For the poor elderly, they are often forgotten, abandoned, thought of as a burden and unproductive in society. For those who visit or do ministry in nursing homes, they often can see and talk to elderly who never get a visit from their own children, grandchildren or other relatives. If they know Christ, they can find comfort in the midst of their loneliness and sense of abandonment. But what if they don't? Let's remember our elderly: those in our families, in our churches, and anywhere else the Lord might want us to reach out to them or pray for them. "For the needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted perish forever." Psalms 9:18
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