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​Community and Contemplation: How Church Can Improve Seniors’ Health
Isolation and depression are part of an oppressive reality for many senior citizens. Retirement and the advent of an unfamiliar lifestyle after decades of work and daily interaction leaves many older adults feeling lost and cut off. It’s an abrupt and unsettling change to which many never adjust.

Research has shown that seniors who belong to a church community benefit from social interaction, communal sharing and gain the strength to cope with sadness through spirituality. Older adults learning to deal with the depressing reality of solitude find an invaluable emotional support network.  Due to life circumstances that may be unique to their age or health concerns, elderly people often confront a variety of emotions or mindsets that may be somewhat debilitating and hard to bear. These include a sense of isolation, loneliness, boredom, and grief, among others.

Companionship and contemplation
Church provides companionship with people who have common interests and experiences. As such, it’s a powerfully therapeutic emotional outlet. Traditionally, church is a place people go for spiritual growth and strength. Prayer, the celebration of a liturgical tradition and contemplative activity like meditation and self-reflection calm the mind and make it easier to process complex emotions. Spiritual contemplation also helps reduce stress, alleviate depression and mitigate feelings of anxiety. Research has shown that prayer helps seniors who suffer from severe depression respond better to treatment - praying and reflecting with others who share a common belief system enhances this effect.

Outreach
Churches often perform charitable work, an activity that helps seniors feel important and involved in the world around them. There are multiple psychological and physical benefits to be derived from helping others and doing so alongside people you love and know well. It’s a communal activity that makes you feel productive because it gives one a sense of purpose and satisfaction. The consequent feelings of well-being can translate into improved physical health. Charitable work has been proven effective at preventing Alzheimer’s disease, improving one’s overall mental health, and overcoming bitterness and other negative feelings associated with isolation. Seniors gain a strong impression that their lives have meaning.
 
Healthy choices
As part of a church community, senior citizens are more likely to make healthy lifestyle choices and help others avoid unhealthy practices. Church members feel a responsibility to other members of their church community, both to help them stay safe and healthy and to maintain a healthy lifestyle themselves. A caring church community can motivate older adults to stay active and vital, and give them a stake in the health and vitality of their friends. It’s a social dynamic that can be beneficial to older adults who may have substance abuse problems, a frequent outcome of an isolated existence.
Attending church on a regular basis gives lonely senior citizens a reinvigorated sense of purpose and provides a much-needed source of emotional support, especially for those who are separated, physically or emotionally, from their families. Under such circumstances, church families fill a gap in the lives of people who have nowhere else to turn. Social interaction and emotional support helps isolated seniors lead a longer, happier life among friends they can do things with together.

Social and spiritual outlet
Churches provide a social and spiritual outlet for senior citizens whose mental and physical health may suffer from long periods of isolation and loneliness. Social interaction and the solace that comes from spiritual sharing aids mental acuity and boosts physical health and emotional well-being. For many lonely and depressed senior citizens, church is quite literally a blessing.

Picture Courtesy of Pixabay.com.

I've got to admit I love social media, I love looking and reading websites, blogs, tweets, etc.  But I don't love them so much that I've let them replace the human touch.  My mind goes back to when there was no social media, when there were no cell phones, no iPad, etc.  What did people do with themselves? 

​Did you see the commercial where the family is sitting together in the living room on the couch and their internet goes out and there just about to die?  Have we forgotten the value in the human touch?

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A refugee that has lost everything, including family, home; I mean everything.  Oh but to give them a human touch, a touch of conversation, a touch of encouragement, a touch where you make sure their fed and clothed.  Nothing compares to a human touch.  ​You do have many seniors that have gotten tech savvy, but what about the others that don't know how to navigate social media?  They need and long for the human touch.  We can't neglect that.

​Don't get me wrong, I text too, but I've learned that sometimes the translation gets misunderstood.  I email too, but even that sometimes gets mistranslated.  But true real authentic conversation, like answering the phone when someone calls you, like reaching out to call someone else, like taking time out of your days and weeks to spend time with those you deem important.

​Look at your life and see are you more focused on controlling it or living it?  Look really look and see how many human touches you've made this past week, or were there more tweets, texts and emails rather than real human conversations?  Asking someone via text the question "How are you doing, can be so different than picking up the phone or sitting in front of each other to really see and hear the answer authentically.

​God never intended for us to replace our yearning for each other, with the invisible person on the end of a email or text.  I'm not saying we shouldn't use social media, but I am saying there is no way it should or could replace a real human touch.  I can text you one day and ask "how is your day", and you can text back with the response, it's okay.  But the reality is there maybe much more to share in that small it's okay response.

​My picking up the phone or setting some time with you, gives so much more value to our relationship.  So I encourage each of you not to neglect the power of your human touch.  Not only will you be a blessing to someone else, but you my friend will also receive a blessing in return.  Relationships are so precious and should be handled with delicate care and not just assumed to always be there.

​You can't tweet, text or email one of the most important relationships you should have, and that's your relationship with God.  You can send a tweet, text or email about Him, but not to Him.  He'd rather have that intimate time with you, because in the one on one conversation of intimacy with God, you grow closer to Him as well as value Him.  Don't neglect the human touch of not only your fellow man, but most importantly your awesome God.

​Matthew 6:6 - "But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret.  And your Father who sees in secret, will reward you."

We've all been told the things that would bring us joy.  Television encourages us to be drawn to money, looks and truly outward appearances will bring us joy.  But if it fades, no money, looks have changed including body type can we say that's joy.  When I went on my first roller coaster ride, I experience some level of joy, but I also haven't gotten fully off the ride over the past years.

​That roller coaster is not just at the amusement park where cotton candy, popcorn and other delights are sold, but that roller coaster has become my life.  There are some days or a day where all in the world is working on my behalf; then there are other days where I've felt like the world was working against me.  The ups and downs of our roller coaster of life.  The joy of a new baby being born, the joy of a couple saying I Do to marriage, the joy of being promoted on the job, the joy of purchasing your first car or house. 

​But let's ask ourselves the question, have these things, instances, decisions brought me real joy.  I don't know about you, but sometimes being a parent has been a headache, sometimes the house and car has made me want to pull my hair out, sometimes having said I do makes me want to say I don't, the job and responsibility makes me want to say what job?  LOL.  The reality is that all of these are part of the roller coaster ride that we have all gotten on and have tried to get off when the ride is still moving.  But I have found great joy in being a parent, I have found great joy in being married, there have been many experiences of joy on my job, I have found joy in being able to have a car and house.  All these things were no doing of my own, but it was only because of God's grace and He brings me great joy, unspeakable joy.  Yes that kind of joy the world didn't give me nor can take away. 

​Because now the children are grown and living their lives, now the mate has made his transition out of this side of life, now I'm creepy towards retirement and still taking care of car and house, but I must say I am truly blessed.  Through the ups and down of my roller coaster of life I've had good days and I've had challenging ones, but I made it, was able to get off the ride and breath and then get back on.  It's like when a woman has her first child and she says never again, but ends up having 3, 5, or 8 more of those little dumplings.  Your faith will take you where your doubt can't go.  Thank Him for your roller coaster of life.

​JOHN 15:11 "These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."  My friend true joy comes from knowing and walking and taking that roller coaster ride of life with Him.  He'll hold your hand when you want to scream, he'll shield eyes from things you don't need to see, he'll protect you when you think you are about to fall out of the ride.  The seat belt called JESUS tightens and holds you in.  COMPLETE JOY

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