Widows and Orphans

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. (James 1:27)

I have had such a joyful time volunteering at the Lafayette Senior Center. I only help serve dinner there once a month, but I love talking to and sitting with all the elderly community members. They have such amazing stories and we keep each other company. This coupled with my time teaching high school makes for a pretty amazing life. The above Bible verse came to mind this evening for some reason, and I didn't have anywhere to write my thoughts so I put them here. So many of my students have faulty parents, divorced parents, or no parents at all. They are, essentially, orphans. So many of the people at the Senior Center have lost their loved ones - namely their husbands and wives. Without even realizing it I have been given these opportunities to look after widows and orphans, and that is my "religion." It's not the type of religion that the media and politicians talk about or the type of thing you see on one of those evangelical TV stations. It's the real thing. Real Christianity: caring for one another. And it is such a gift.