THE DISGUISED BLESSING OF ELDER AGE

Learning by Doing

1 Peter 5:6 “Humble yourselves therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.”

• Elder age is a culmination of a lifetime of:

  --What works

  --What does not work

  --What REALLY does work or not work!

  With all due respect, the "golden years" are not always that golden. Age contains the lovely mixed bag of experience, memory and accumulation of goodbyes and departures.

• Ah, reality...as in Elder age, all the misbehavior of your life comes uninvited to visit and decides to sleep on your couch! It won't move...and it snores... and does not clean up after itself... ( I don't have a couch... but anyway...)

  Cause, effect, it is truly a block of ice...

• Add to that the topping of daring to be a (biological!) female and constantly being harangued by the scolds of the world, about LOOKING YOUNG, how simply delightful (sarc).

  Do not get me started on that rude and condescending TEMPEST of societal pressure to not dare show your dreaded age! While I had many a good and memorable time in my youth, youth should not be worshiped!

• That societal pressure to look young is one reason I never took to the corporate world. For me, "don't fit in" is putting it mildly. I have read stories about women who dread approaching 40 or 50...and are considering plastic surgery in a desperate attempt to not show their real age!

• That makes me scream at the top of my lungs.

  I am not suggesting not caring for yourself… you can eat healthy, keep moving, care for your skin, moderate your bad habits as much as you can, wear clothes and colors you feel good in...and have FAITH IN GOD AND HIS SON!

  Papa God loves us far beyond the mere physical!!

  The surface junk is temporary. The full weight of glory, the thought of eternal fellowship in Heaven, hanging out with Papa, His Son Jesus Christ, the Angels, all the Saints of history and our own saved loved ones...that means more than all the surface stuff on earth.

  Yes, I'm the blunt Oregon girl...but I am also profoundly humbled and grateful that God saved me from my stupidity, even if I resisted for 35 years, a Prodigal to my Christian faith. I finally listened to God’s voice calling me back to Him!

  I HAVE EARNED the white hairs, the lines on my face, the extra padding on my belly. I have been through plenty and I make no apologies for being 72. Older age is tough and very real.

  I have a Home in Glory and I long to go there...when my work here is done.

• I do not want anyone referring to me as "72 years young!" NOPE, not going there.

  I mean, Elders who have survived seven or eight or nine decades...we deserve some respect. Yes, childhood is tough, adolescence is tough, young adulthood is tough, middle age is tough...but Elder age is the last frontier. Health, work, family, departures… change is not easy. Did I ever tell you, I dislike change?!

• Elder age, it is humbling and yet...kinda amazing. How do I dare to say this? I am no longer a Leftist, a feminist, nor do I extol the virtues of females over males. We need male and female to keep the "hooman” race going. As gritty and gnarly as humans are, sperm meeting egg is not politically correct. Life is messy, from start to finish. It is decades of blunt force learning by the actual experiences of life, like a laboratory, not remotely theoretical. Every single one of us, especially us Elders, do have our difficult pile of learnings, sometimes forced! In words we can all understand, " do I have to??" Often, usually, the unwanted answer is "yes". Sorry, dear twenty year olds, of which I used to be, the answer is affirmative.

  I do not feel inclined to invest my life in this material realm alone, I live for Eternity.

  This place is a pop quiz, a practice arena for Forever. Just to think that I matter...I cannot fake it, Papa God won't let me! I am on the slow steady plod to Heaven, not a glamorous plod, not sexy, not always fun, but needed and well worth its weight in Glory. Life is a battle from birth to death , mixed with some joys interwoven. Old age is not a moral failing!

• Find your gifts given to you by Papa God, your original gifts to you alone. Ask God to help you to effectively use those gifts for the days you have here on Earth. Ask, seek, knock, partner with God and His Son.

  Two suggestions that have helped me a lot:

• Watch the Saint Crispin's Day speech from Shakespeare's Henry the 5th, masterfully proclaimed in a movie via the brilliant British actor Kenneth Branagh...sends chills every time I watch it… King Henry, an English monarch is joining in the mess of a hugely outmatched English army, facing battle. He strides in with humility, outstanding hope and sheer overwhelming love of country...and the outmatched army...WINS. "This few, this happy few, this band of brothers…" It is an astonishing and cheerfully grim display of staggering courage against all odds! Locate this by entering " Shakespeare Henry the 5th Saint Crispin's Day Kenneth Branagh" on a search engine.

  Also, watch the always stirring and awesomely, hopefully gritty "Ride of the Rohirrim" from the Lord of the Rings movie, "The return of the King." This is more on the defeat of darkness by sheer focus of faith and determination. The late-coming armies of Rohan are arriving to share in the battle alongside Gondor, against the darkness of Mordor, what another overwhelming event of courage! You can find this clip by typing in "Ride of the Rohirrim " on any search engine. It lifts me up and brings tears to my eyes, every time. Life can actually be won, step by step!

• Hold fast to God!

  Wendy Elizabeth Williams Friday, March 28, 2025

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