A Prayer about Caring for Aging Parents

‘Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.’

Exodus 20:12

Gracious Father,

We confess, 

we don’t always know what it looks like 

to honor our fathers and mothers as they age, 

particularly as they begin to lose 

strength and cognitive abilities. 

Help us, by your Holy Spirit, 

and guide us by your Word, 

that we may know what good care looks like. 

Give us courage to have conversations 

with our parents today 

so that we might know their values, wishes, and priorities 

if they become weak mentally or physically. 

Remind us that despite mental and physical weakness and frailty, 

our parents are never our children. 

May we advocate for them 

as people with profound dignity and worth, 

because you created them in your image 

and you love them far better than we are able. 

Give us wisdom and insight to know 

what they would want in difficult scenarios 

that seem to have no easy answers: 

should they move to assisted living; 

should they have full-time care; 

would they want us to spend our savings 

on their care, etc.? 

Thank you for sending your Son, 

that in him we might live in faith, hope, and love 

as we care for aging parents. 

Amen.

Read Deuteronomy 5:16; Ephesians 6:1-3; Proverbs 6:20-24.