Growing Older...

I don't consider myself old; however, I do receive Social Security, Medicare Benefits, and am a grandma. So, if I am not old now, I'm headed in that direction with no U-turns, detours, or STOP signs ahead.

I've watched our parents grow old, get sick, and die. It's inevitable: everything that lives, dies. There are invisible walls that surface as we age: can't go there, don't do that, not safe anymore--things we won't be able to do, places we won't be able to go because we are not what we used to be.

When I was around 14 years old, I walked our quarter mile lane in the dark of night, plopped myself in the soft ditch grass, and allowed the heavens to saturate my space. Awed, I knew that the world had possibilities, and they were infinite. Now, the slivers of open spaces are narrowing. I ride an exercise bike instead of walking due to arthritis in my foot. I can't eat just anything I want unless I want a tummy-ache. Technology drives the world, but I sometimes can't figure out how to solve a simple tech glitch. I at times feel inconsequential at a meeting or a gathering--thinking that I have nothing to offer. I understand how my parents felt when I start to feel that I can not relate to trendy music, movies, or clothing. Eccentric, I may become.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his "Letters and Papers from Prison," 1953, wrote "Time is the most precious gift in our possession. ...Time lost is when we have not lived a full human life, time unenriched by experience, creative endeavor, enjoyment, and suffering. Time lost is time we have not filled...."

So what? I can honor and show love for our Creator God by living life to my fullest and completing the purpose He intended for me. If I don't know what it is, I get down on my knees. He'll let me know.