Over the last 5 years, our nonprofit affordable housing company expanded into assisted living. A.L. wasn’t in our original vision plan – we provided apartments not services – but the opportunity and the extensive need eventually drew us in. Since then, our compassion for those in this stage of life has expanded as well.
On a recent visit to the construction site of our newest facility, we began to imagine the residents actually occupying the space as we walked the unfinished corridors. The conversation turned to the emotions so many seniors wrestle with when they finally make the jump to assisted living. Most of them wait far too long because the idea of giving up “independence” and admitting the need for “assistance” is just too big of an emotional leap. It’s a humbling season of life.
That’s when I hit me: I do everything I can to avoid “assisted living,” too.
I think that emotion is true for all of us, regardless of age. We fiercely desire and protect our independence – physically, relationally, spiritually. We want to be self-sufficient, self-made, and self-sustaining. We don’t want to be forced to rely on anyone if we can help it.
In a way, it’s been humanity’s plague since Genesis 3. Our sin-nature seeks independence even though we were divinely designed for “assisted living.” We weren’t created to function on our own, separated from God. We were created to be vines, daily nourished and fed by the Branch. Jesus was pretty blunt: “Apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15).
In what ways are you seeking to live independent from God? Tangibly or spiritually, this is a humbling question worth asking as we head into a new week.
On the Website:
ARTICLE: The Tentmaker Trio
VIDEO: The Importance of Prayer
Have a great week!
Accelerating the Great Commission Through the Marketplace,
Erik Cooper | The Stone Table
Don’t forget to pick up your copy of Missional Marketplace: Finding Your Everyday Work in God’s Eternal Plan in your choice of print, e-book, or audiobook by clicking here!
