Watching my mom, aged 88 years and 5 months, who incidentally has now reached the age where she has become the oldest of all her brothers and sisters (6 each) and her late mom and dad, becoming more frail by the day is a revelation to me.
I watch and see her strenth diminishing on a daily basis. To take a shower has become an effort; to dress and undress a chore which leaves her tired and needing a rest; to make a cup of tea, a nuisance to be avoided. She, who used to be up at 6 and busy scurrying around the house and doing all her work herself and managing her garden all day, every day, now goes to the dining hall, eats, and comes back and rests. She takes a walk around the building, and returns to her room to rest. She is in bed by 5.30 pm and has lost interest in most things, although she now listens to the news three or fours times a day.
Her eating habits have changed; she no longer enjoys her food as she used to; she is more fussy about what she will and will not eat; she eats less. She has cut out certain foods which she used to love before.
I have often said that I would like to ask the Lord one day, why our physical bodies have to age - why we should carry the signs of our age on the outside, when on the inside we still feel the same as when we were young and full of energy and life?
Watching my mom, I have come to realise that there are things that become unnecessary; things that we lay off; desires that wane; actions that fall away - we enter a time of reflection... we think back on our lives, dwell on our memories, our achievements, regret our mistakes...
Sometimes this stage of our lives is the only stage at which we come to a standstill - are forced, in fact to come to a stop because we are, in fact, no longer physically mobile or agile. And I have come to realise that we are given this time to focus on the eternal. To take our minds off the physical, which we can no longer achieve, to concentrate on the spiritual and the life hereafter - a time to reflect on and perhaps ask forgiveness for things done, errors made, wrong choices, wrong decisions, hurtful things said and done to others during the course of our lives, sometimes in ignorance, sometimes negligently, sometimes in anger, or in passion.
Maybe the people that we have harmed or hurt have themselves, already passed away, and then we have time to ask God to forgive us instead.
We have time to think on and forgive others who have harmed or hurt us. We have time to look around and see who we can encourage, because although we may feel that we are going through hard times, there are always those who suffer more, endure more pain, more loss, more depravity...
We have time and opportunity to pray with those around us, perhaps in the same retirement complex, who are suffering; time to ensure that they know God and have experienced His love and forgiveness; time to help those whom we know to be experiencing the same physical hardships as us, to also experience the same spiritual blessings that we do.
In short we have time to prepare ourselves for the eternal:
The Scripture that comes to mind is:
"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power
may be of God and not of us. We are had-pressed on every side, yet not
crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken;
struck down, but not destroyed- always carrying about in the body the dying
of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life
of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh." 2 Cor. 4: 7 - 11
Thank You, Lord, that Your love never fails, and that You remain with us always - even in old age. Thank You that we never have to doubt Your presence in our lives. Thank You, that there is a purpose even in this season of our lives and that we can live it to Your honour and glory. Thank You for the comfort of the Holy Spirit. Help us to not focus on our disabilities but on that which we can still do to assist others in similar circumstances.
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