As my 60th birthday is fast approaching, I have been pondering many things. There are the practical concerns of gradually beginning to think about financial considerations for the future, what does family life look like as kids become a little more scattered and involved with their own lives, and downsizing a family-sized life of "all the things" needed that are no longer necessary. Beyond that, there are the more existential questions and thoughts that arise around bigger things. Have I accomplished all I thought I would...and is there time and energy enough left to keep reaching for new projects? Have I been as kind and helpful in the world as I hope to be? What value does the word "legacy" really have?
Don't get me wrong, it isn't that I am feeling old before my time, but I am more aware than ever before of the concept of time...of the years behind me, the limited ones still before me, and of the richness of still feeling that I am blessed to be standing upright and able to continue on at the moment.
Preparation doesn't have to mean a sense of impending doom. We can look forward without obsessing about it...about the aches and pains, the fears of loneliness, the worries of financial solvency that the majority of us carry into our senior years. We can simply do our best to be as ready as possible for adapting our lives to our gradual (and yes, sometimes instant) decline, and then once mentally well prepared, we can ease our way into our older years with the assurance that we have done all we could and can relax and just let aging take its course.
The biggest problem most folks have with aging isn't the actual aging itself, it is the lack of control that accompanies it. Being flexible, bending when needed, and remaining teachable are three of the very best ways to approach that process we can never escape...but we sure can thrive through it if we continue to be the better version of ourselves.
I guess I am reminded with the big 6-0 approaching that God continues to call me to be that best version of myself at every single stage of my life. I don't get a "pass" because I attain a certain age. I don't get to proudly proclaim I have "lost my filter" solely because I have a little more gray hair. And God certainly doesn't tell us that we can "sit this one out" when it comes to serving those around us to the best of our ability.
Hmmm...maybe those old fashioned Christian principles actually serve as a road map to healthy aging, and I might be wise to pay closer attention than usual :-)
In Light and Love,
Rev. Cindy
