The Bitter Truth

I’ve tried not to write about this. I’ve restrained myself many times. But maybe you can handle the truth.  And maybe I need to share it…

Mom has developed an “interesting” new thing that she does. I hope it’s not a habit.  But she’s done it at least half a dozen times now. She somehow leaves plops of poo in various parts of the house. But we don’t find any on her hands or clothes.  Just big plops on the floor or bed. Yep. It’s fun.

This is especially “interesting” since Dad has so little vision.  Thankfully his nose works well.

Today I was anticipating a nice visit with Mom while my husband took Dad to the dentist. Instead I got a phone call, from my stressed out daddy, saying he had stepped in poo and he was pretty sure it was all over the floor and could I come over and make sure it wasn’t on his clothes and tell him where he could step.

And thus began my morning of cleaning, which included scraping, scrubbing, vacuuming, and mopping floors and finally shampooing the carpeting.

It all helps me understand a study I read that says one of the main reasons home care givers end up placing their loved ones in care facilities is because of bathroom and incontinence related issues. It can certainly feel overwhelming.

And for some reason, I keep thinking about what I read in my Bible yesterday. I was reading in Exodus 15, as Moses was leading Israel into the wilderness and they went three days and found no water. And then, when they finally find water, they can’t drink it because it’s bitter. The people complain against Moses and he cries out to the Lord. The Lord shows Moses a tree and when he casts it into the waters, the waters were made sweet.

As I was reading this I had questions. Why did God make them go three days without water? He’s God—He could have just given them water at any point. And then when He does provide water—why bitter? He could have made it perfect.

I have no answers to these questions. But I think it is interesting that when Moses cried out to God, God showed him what to do. And He turned the bitter waters sweet.

Sometimes Alzheimer’s, and other challenges of life, leave us feeling dry and parched and worn out. Maybe even bitter. But as we cry out to Jesus and follow Him He quenches our thirst.  He meets our needs and refreshes us. He gives us strength to go on.

As I was writing this Dad called again.  He found new poo on the kitchen floor.  He needed me to do an inspection. I wish I could say I had a great attitude about bundling up to go out in the freezing weather so I could deal with another “situation”.  I didn’t, but I went. I found Dad had cleaned up the gist of it, and I only had tiny bits to deal with.

And as I sat there in the living room afterwards, visiting a bit, I noticed that the carpet looked better than it had in a long time.  It looked fresh and clean. And I found a certain sweetness in that and smiled to myself.