How are you coping with growing older?

It’s another odd question that if we can be completely honest we prefer not to respond to. In my head I’m still a strong and invincible 25 year old. When we were young there was little thought about the fragility of this life, or of how changes come quickly.

Fast forward a few decades and I can say I have witnessed my parents succumbing to health issues and finally going home to heaven. And there have been a steady departure of friends and family. I think it hit me like a brick wall one day when a smaller group of first cousins gathered in a funeral home and my cousin Kathy said “ well now we are the oldest generation alive!”

It has not been as easy to accept the idea that we are at the crest of the hill, and the rest will be a slow ride down the hill to our eternity.

Oh goodness, listen to me! If you are still reading I want to change the tone, and offer some encouragement. For this life has chapters, each distinct and with a purpose….there is a wisdom of living decades… of carrying on the knowledge imparted to us by previous generations. And you have something powerful to share with the world. Your whit and wisdom is needed. You are needed.

Those who are a part of your circle of friends value the courage you have shown to overcome challenge. Just like those scars you carry from living this life are the tender insights into how healing comes. these are lessons we never knew we would have to learn. They are the sudden shifts of life that can break us, shatter us, and definitely change us forever……. But oh my friend, you had courage to find your way through those battles. You learned about yourself, and you learned of the hope God offered to get through the worst of times…. That still small voice whispered hope, spoke peace, and slowly healed the deep wounds of this life.

And just like before life changed, you carry optimism, that promise of hope, that faith without evidence of sight. Your very life is a gift of hope to all who witness your life. Many have watched your trials, looked to see how you would fare. Most watched from a distance, almost fearing your storm was contagious. It was not. And the trial ended, optimism returned. Run to those who see you and uplift you. To those who still believed you would make it. They quietly cheered you on, prayed for you, held hope..

For together we walk toward eternity strengthened by the knowledge we are not alone. and the lord will never leave us.