{"id":1946,"date":"2022-09-06T09:25:19","date_gmt":"2022-09-06T13:25:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=1946"},"modified":"2022-09-06T09:25:19","modified_gmt":"2022-09-06T13:25:19","slug":"here-to-take-care-of-each-other","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2022\/09\/06\/here-to-take-care-of-each-other\/","title":{"rendered":"Here to Take Care of Each Other"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0<\/em>click here<\/a>.

During the past five decades, Morton Kondracke has been one of the most recognizable American political commentators.
\u00a0
The independent-thinking journalist appeared as a panelist on The McLaughlin Group <\/em>and co-hosted the lively televised conversations known as The Beltway Boys<\/em>.\u00a0 Now at age 83 he continues to write for the non-partisan Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call<\/em>.\u00a0
\u00a0
But few knew the back story of Kondracke\u2019s life.\u00a0 In 1988 his wife Milly was diagnosed with Parkinson\u2019s disease.\u00a0 Kondracke remembers:
\u00a0
\u201cShe had beautiful handwriting, and she was writing a check and couldn\u2019t form the letter K.\u00a0 It looked fine to me.\u00a0 But she insisted that, no, there was something wrong.\u00a0
\u00a0
\u201cLater she had a tremor in the little finger of her right hand, and then her foot would sort of wobble on the brakes when she was driving.
\u00a0
\u201cShe was given Symmetrel \u2013 which is a Parkinson\u2019s medicine \u2013 by a doctor, and he didn\u2019t tell her what it was.\u00a0 But she called me at work one day, totally distraught and hysterical in a way that I\u2019d never heard Milly before.\u00a0
\u00a0
\u201cShe said, you have to come home right away.\u00a0 Something terrible has happened.\u00a0 So I raced home.
\u00a0
\u201cThere she was standing in the bedroom with this bottle in her hand.\u00a0 She said, \u2018This is a Parkinson\u2019s medicine.\u00a0 I\u2019ve seen Parkinson\u2019s.\u00a0 It\u2019s a horrible disease.\u00a0 I won\u2019t be able to talk.\u00a0 I won\u2019t be able to walk.\u00a0 I won\u2019t be able to swallow.\u00a0 I won\u2019t be able to eat.\u00a0 You\u2019ll have to take me to the bathroom.
\u00a0
\u201c\u2019I\u2019ll be totally dependent.\u00a0 You won\u2019t love me anymore.\u00a0 You\u2019ll leave me.\u2019
\u00a0
Every one of the physical limitations that Milly dreaded came true.\u00a0\u00a0 She ultimately lost her battle to Parkinson\u2019s in 2004.
\u00a0
But Kondracke did not leave her.\u00a0 And he did not stop loving her.\u00a0
\u00a0
During one of the hardest times he wrote: \u201cMultiple times a day I pray for help and strength and Milly\u2019s deliverance.\u00a0 I simply couldn\u2019t do this without feeling that I was doing God\u2019s work in a small way.\u00a0 I\u2019ve asked God innumerable times, So what is my purpose here on earth? <\/em>hoping that he will add a new and grandiose dimension to this, which he never does.
\u00a0
\u201cThe message always comes back the same:\u00a0 Your job here is to take care of Milly.\u201d<\/em>
\u00a0
No matter what we\u2019re facing today, and no matter how silent God might seem, we can be certain of what he has called us to do.\u00a0 \u201cLove one another,\u201d Jesus said, \u201cas I have loved you.\u00a0 This is how people will know that you are truly my disciples \u2013 if you love one another\u201d (John 13:34-35).\u00a0
\u00a0
Our job, in other words, is, by God\u2019s grace, to help take care of each other.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here. During the past five decades, Morton Kondracke has been one of the most recognizable American political commentators.\u00a0The independent-thinking journalist appeared as a panelist on The McLaughlin Group and co-hosted the lively televised conversations known as The Beltway Boys.\u00a0 Now at age 83 he continues to write for the non-partisan Capitol Hill… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1947,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[495,104],"class_list":["post-1946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-caregiving","tag-love"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1946"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1946\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1948,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1946\/revisions\/1948"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}