A few years ago I began a friendship with someone who was experiencing early signs of memory loss. My friendship with this person has been defining because

They retain their intelligence and personality even as the memory loss has progressed.

They are still deeply human, and their soul and spirit are not limited by the memory loss.

They are well-looked after by amazing people, but life feels fragile and they express that fragility with both pathos and Grace.

I do not like the term dementia. It has a whiff of pejorative madness. I try to maintain the common use of the primary symptom—memory loss, because we need a better word for what happens when anyone loses memory because of the multiple reasons any person can lose their memory. There is not one cause, and there should be care taken about “lumping” 57 million people together.

Please pray for all of us—all the humans, but please consider praying specifically for the 57 million humans who have memory loss.

God loves us all and nothing can stop him from speaking to each of us—even if the words might seem to evanesce in the memory.

The soul of Man lives forever

And the Son of Man has promised he will

Keep that which we give to him against That Day—or as my friend would add—“on all the others as well.“