Getting Older

 

In a few days i will be turning 60.  That fact is hitting me hard….

 

At 50 I was a lot thinner, a lot fitter, and in my mind, a lot better looking.

 

I pass by a mirror now and wonder, “who is that old lady with the extra pounds, the gray hair, the errant whiskers, and the wrinkles?  Surely that cannot be me!”

 

A poet named Dylan Thomas once wrote - “Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”  

 

I wonder if perhaps I should not rage a little harder…

 

However, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 has something to say about getting old.  It says, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

 

For me, in addition to the aforementioned downsides to getting old, there have been some upsides - and that verse feels as if it is asking me to focus on those."

• Being older meant I could retire
• Being retired gave me the opportunity to spend 7 weeks out of the country working in Nicaragua, responding to a “call” I had felt for a few years.  
• Being “older” enabled me to relate with the elder members of the missionary teams, while offering hugs to the younger ones.  
• "Older" caused me to be seen as  a “mama” with staff members, group members and people in the community of San Benito.  And “mama” felt like a role that was very much needed and appreciated. 

I think my revelation is: that at 60, new doors of opportunity to “love my neighbor” are being opened, and instead of raging, that I should step through those doors with grace, humility and gratitude.