Bruised or Ripe Old Age

Scripture

Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing. …. None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable - absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.  (Romans 8:35-39  MSG)

Bruised or Ripe Old Age

Chatting with Susan on a drive home from Ottawa last week I noodled that living to a ripe old age might leave us bruised. To live long and healthy is a cultural goal but it ignores reality. The assumed stability of our lives may be blown wide open with events outside our control.

An image of an “elderly” woman standing in front of her bombed out apartment block in Ukraine, where she once lived securely in a seemingly free and prospering nation. Probably my age, she sees only devastation and insecurity all around her.

A friend is a decade my senior and has lived a fruitful and generous life only to bury one of his sons before he even reached 60. The pain of an aging father weighs heavily on my own perspective of life.

At the very hopeful funeral worship service a soloist sang a thoughtful, controlled but majestic version of the hymn “It Is Well With My Soul”, a statement of faith and hope in the midst of the madness. It lifted my friend and me both.

I want to age well, see my grandchildren grow and flourish while knowing that the happy sunset scenes in marketing to seniors may be interrupted with dark cloud – but we live in faith and hope in God with us in it all.

A Prayer for Today

Loving God, you came to be one of us so we could become You. You endured pain and sorrow and immense joy and blessing. Help us accept both sides of the emotional register whatever our age and stage. Help us find wellness in our souls in your presence not because everything is smooth and easy but because your love is deepest in the storm and your light is brightest in the darkness  …. For Jesus’ sake.