For Christian seniors, a faith-based assisted living community can be a wonderful place to retire. Locations such as those under the Bethesda Senior Living Communities umbrella offer a wide range of benefits to seniors of all backgrounds, beliefs and ages, including:
• A fun, vibrant living situation that you can customize to meet your own preferences
• Activity calendars with numerous options to help you engage with fellow residents, make new friends and stay active
• Health and wellness services, including help managing medications or chronic disease processes if necessary
• Peace of mind knowing that you're living independently in a secure, safe environment with easy access to staff should you need assistance
But for seniors of faith, the communities under the Bethesda Senior Living communities umbrella offer even more benefits. We're a faith-based not-for-profit that puts humble service first, and we love that many of the residents in our communities find them to be welcoming places where they can get closer to God or continue a life-long faith walk.
Here are just some of the ways you can get closer to God in our communities.
One of the great things about moving into an assisted living community is that you can free up a substantial amount of time each day. We often don't realize how much of our time is spent on household maintenance tasks such as cooking, washing dishes, doing laundry, maintaining the lawn or calling to find out when a plumber can come look at the leaky sink.
When you make the move to assisted living, you shed most if not all of those household tasks. Sure, seniors living independently in an assisted living apartment will likely want to keep it picked up and organized to their preferences. But the community usually provides housekeeping, laundry services, meals and a bevy of other services.
That freed up time lets you engage in activities you always wished you had more time for — from learning new things to practicing favorite hobbies. It can also let you spend more time in prayer.
If you're not rushing each morning to get going with household tasks, for example, it's easier to lay in bed a bit longer having quiet time with God.
Another activity you may be able to spend more time on is Bible study. Whether you set aside a few minutes daily to read the Bible and a book or devotional on a faith-based topic or you reach out to friends to study Scripture together, a faith-based community is a great place to learn more about Scripture. In fact, if you check the activity calendars for any of our communities, you're likely to find a Bible study or two offered as an option.
Seniors with limited mobility or transportation options might not have been able to make it to church services regularly when living on their own at home. Moving into an assisted living community lets you maintain your independence while ensuring you have access to all types of activities. Scheduled outings to shopping centers and cultural events, for example, let you access parts of the city you might have passed on before.
In-community worship and devotional services also make it that much easier to get to church. Worship corporately with other believers in your community to learn more about God together, and then gather with a few friends in a common space to enjoy coffee or conversation.
Speaking of conversation, that's another great benefit to living in an assisted living community. If you're feeling up for a chat or company, you simply have to step outside your door and see who else is browsing the common areas. Strike up casual conversations on a variety of topics to get to know people.
And if you discover a fellow resident is also a fellow believer, you can expand your chats to topics of faith. Talking about your beliefs and listening to the beliefs of others is a great way to learn more about God. You never know who he might put in your path and what they might have to teach you.
Serving others is another great way to learn more about God, especially when you pray over your service first and ask him to lead the way. During the Last Supper when Jesus washed the feet of the disciples, he said that they should go on washing each other's feet. While some denominations do literally wash feet during special Love Feasts or other events, the crux of Jesus's message was metaphorical. He wanted his followers to serve others and by doing so learn more about what it was like to live life as God intended them to on this earth.
