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Memory is fluid and tricky. When I was a child, a neighbor found my Grandma Cora adrift in her own neighborhood, lost and unable to remember her way home. She’d spent her life as the caretaker, but the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s meant she now needed us to take care of her.

Grandma came to live with us, and it was quickly evident that she could no longer remember what we’d talked about minutes before. Depending on the day, my dad might be her son, her dad or her brother, and my mom either her daughter-in-law or a friendly woman she couldn’t quite place.

Words of belief remained. She could still read her Bible – although sometimes the same page, over and over. Scripture, hymns, prayers and creeds were a comfort to Grandma; something I began to understand for myself as an adult, whenever I struggled to see things clearly. Speaking our words of belief aloud matters. And those words stay with us long after other things fade.

This message is excerpted from “Words of belief matter in grief or joy” by Elizabeth Hunter in the May 14, 2018, blog of the Women of the ELCA.