Day 9 - Issue 25
Psalm 71:18 NLT
'Now that I am old and gray, do not abandon me, O God.'
Ageing is a personal subject, seldom addressed outside of humorous remarks, yet it is a challenge each of us faces. We live in a society that seems either unwilling or unable to speak of the most profound milestone in our lives. I was shocked to discover when caring for Katey that the medical profession was most uncomfortable talking of death. For us it was an inevitable reality, given her degenerative disease. A prognosis, however speculative, would have helped us prepare for our separation.
It appears the psalmist’s fears are realised within our own hi-tech, wealthy British society. For the elderly are the least respected within that society. Left to fend for themselves, the majority, unwilling to become a burden, are left isolated, seemingly forgotten and neglected. Last year there were 11.8 million people over 65, 32 per cent of whom lived alone. Over a third experienced age discrimination, a percentage that rises the older we get.
I believe that we are best facing ageing head-on: identifying and acknowledging our fears. I fear being unable to care for myself. Life drains from me at the thought of an institutional solution to my latter years. I also fear being unable to work, since then I will be unable to earn and without income, how does one continue? So fears to the fore, I need to determine if I have hold of God and, more precisely, does God have hold of me? I’ve observed many older friends struggle with the transition from a very active ministry life; their skill set most certainly underdeveloped when it comes to a change of pace and apparent loss of identity created through ‘doing’.
It is in acknowledging anxieties, owning the challenge of transition, and in knowing God at a deeply personal level that we can approach ageing with confidence. The future will always remain an unknown. Yet, God’s presence and promise carries us and gifts each of us confidence.
QUESTION: How do you approach the onset of age?
PRAYER: Lord God, keep me in your service proclaiming your goodness and sharing your life with a new generation.
