Written in response to the April 12 Seedbed Daily Text on membership in the “elder class:”
I am 68. I have a few arthritic joints and my eyesight isn’t the best (but I look forward to when my ophthalmologist tells me my cataracts are ‘ripe’ and we can proceed with surgery!). I remember the testimony of an octogenarian who was invited to speak on aging to our “20-30 something” Sunday School class. ( I was one of the 20-somethings.) She was a delightful elder, in the most positive and literal sense of the word. I remember one thing in particular she said, “My body shows every bit of my 8 decades, but inside I still feel 18.” She became an example for me that day. Other elders have set an example of vital and joyful aging for me, some with physical limitations that might make their juniors wince or cringe with anxiety over the specter of physical aging….. stooped posture, chronic back pain, living with impaired hearing, failing vision, sporadic memory lapses, or reliance on a variety of medications for treatment of chronic maladies, etc. but I made a decision in my 30’s to live like the best of my elders’ examples. I would embrace aging as a privilege and wear strength and dignity as my clothing and laugh at what is to come. ( Proverbs 31:25). I have much to share with my discipleship students who choose to journey with me.
Jesus chose his disciples, calling them to follow him and inviting others along the way. That was not the typical way of rabbinic order. Students chose the teacher they followed. Rabbis simply did what they do…… teach. Those who followed did so out of seeing something in their teaching and lives worthy of imitating and began to follow them. Wisdom doesnt have an age requirement, as evidenced by God giving it in abundance to the young newly-anointed King Solomon, young Samuel, The shepherd boy David, exiled Joseph, Daniel, etal. But if one lives long enough following Jesus, imitating Him as Paul and others through the ages have sought to do and have offered to others as a worthy endeavor, a certain amount of it is going to emerge. Age itself may be off-putting to some, but I find it a daily privilege. I have one friend who is in an assisted living residence. She is 102. I’ve known her since her 70’s. She is joyful, even with slow and effortful mobility. People stop by her room daily just to experience her uplifting conversation and easy laughter. Her goal, she told me is to reach 105! I believe she likely will, and maybe beyond because she is serving God right where she is with who she is and she lives the Kingdom of God well. She is an elder worthy of emulating. My friend, Bernie, who died peacefully in her sleep at 93.5 ( she was always very specific in adding the “and a half”) gave me many gifts of herself over the decade of our friendship, and continued to do so until the day she died.
Continuing thoughts about “Crucifying Fear”…..a Lent theme for me this year…..
Seen, from Krispin Mayfield on Twitter:
“Don’t be afraid is one of the most abused phrases from the Bible.
God says, “Do not be afraid,” at least fifty times in scripture. Jesus himself says, “Do not worry, and Paul clearly says, “Do not be anxious about anything.”
But without a vision of an emotionally engaged God, we read these statements as a cold, strict ban on emotion rather than words of reassurance and an invitation to safety. Some Christian leaders have presented it like “don’t YOU DARE be afraid” in a mean tone of voice.
What might it mean if every time you heard, “Do not be afraid,” or “Do not worry,” it was a sign that God sees your fear and worry with a desire to respond with comfort? What if this command is a response rather than a restriction?”
There is no need to fear aging, even death. God knows our frailties and makes provision for all things for those who love Him and attend to His ways. There may be pain, even disabling pain at times, but God’s grace will be sufficient to see us through to the end of the beginning of our eternity.
Also from Mayfield:
“I believe these words aren’t all that different from the way I comfort my son when he’s scared. We regularly walk around our neighborhood, and when a loud dog barks from behind the fence, I give his hand an extra squeeze and say, “Don’t worry; you’re okay.”I’m not banishing his emotion, I’m responding to it. I’m comforting him because I can see, in some sense, he has a very, very real reason to be worried. Our Divine Parent does the same..
I appreciate JD’s word today and his embracing the elder role, not the one the church ordained him to, but the one God is granting him day by day.