Inasmuch

Scripture is constantly telling us to spend time with widows and orphans, the poor and the sick. I wonder whether one of the effects of spending time with people like that, who deal with the daily presence and normalcy of death, might be that death is made more real to us. It's easy for death to be the thing that happens to you when you're 85. Maybe hanging out with widows, orphans, sick people, poor people, dying people makes it more natural for us to dwell on our own death, God's judgement of our souls, and the coming of His kingdom.