Who Will Take Grandma?

Taking care of any elderly person, whether it be father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, husband or wife is not an easy task. Caregivers have to make personal sacrifices in order to properly take care of elderly family members who can no longer take care of themselves. The following poem by an unknown author illustrates the need for younger family members to assume the necessary responsibility of taking care of their aged parents and grandparents. The question becomes, “Who Will Take Grandma?”

"Who will take grandma, who will it be?
All of us want her – I’m sure you’ll agree.
Let’s call a meeting – Let’s gather the clan,
Let’s get it settled as soon as we can.
In such a big family, there’s certainly one,
Willing to give her a place in the sun.

Strange how we thought she’d never wear out,
But see how she walks? – It’s arthritis no doubt.
Her eyesight is faded, her memory is dim,
She’s apt to insist on the silliest whim.
When people get older they become such a care,
She must have a home, but the question is where?

Remember the days when she used to be spry?
Baked her own cookies and made her own pie,
Helped us with lessons and tended our seams,
Kissed away troubles and mended our dreams?
Wonderful Grandma, we all love her so,
Isn’t it dreadful she’s got nowhere to go?

One little corner is all she would need,
A shoulder to cry on, a Bible to read.
A chair by the window with the sun shining through,
Some pretty spring flowers all covered in dew.
Who’ll warm her with love so she won’t mind the cold?
Oh, who will take grandmother now that she’s old?

What! Nobody wants her? Oh yes there is One,
Willing to give her a place in the sun,
Where she won’t have to worry or wonder or doubt,
And she won’t be our problem to bother about,
Pretty soon now, God will give her a bed,
But who’ll dry our tears when dear Grandma is dead?" —Author Unknown

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets