GROWING OLDER
Today I want to pass on five poems to you. And at the end of this E Votional I’ll give you my take on them.
Here’s the first poem. It’s called “Upon Retirement” (modified from Ms. Marie T. Obermann)
“Dear God,
Help me have the grace to understand, when my retired husband becomes an expert in dishwasher loading,
Let me grin and sweetly reply each time he asks where I’m going and when I’ll be back.
Let me ignore his accusatory words when I’m late.
Let me swallow my words, when he makes our whole house the depository for mail, newspapers and things he does not want to misplace.
I love the man, Lord, so please help me adjust to his being here, day after day.
Let me forget that I was solely in charge and learn to share space and time with him.
You have been good to me, and I thank you for keeping us well and still together.
Just help me to remember why it was so important to become a couple all those many years ago.”
Here’s a whimsical poem by former US Poet laureate Billy Collins.
“Cheerois”
One bright morning in a restaurant in Chicago
as I waited for my eggs and toast,
I opened the Tribune only to discover
that I was the same age as Cheerios.
Indeed, I was a few months older than Cheerios
for today, the newspaper announced,
was the seventieth birthday of Cheerios
whereas mine had occurred earlier in the year.
Already I could hear them whispering
behind my stooped and threadbare back,
Why that dude’s older than Cheerios
the way they used to say
Why that’s as old as the hills,
only the hills are much older than Cheerios
or any American breakfast cereal,
and more noble and enduring are the hills,
I surmised as a bar of sunlight illuminated my orange juice.
I like that poem for what it is and also for who introduced it to me: Sharon Dolan one of my parishoners at Pinnacle Presbyterian Church. Sharon underwent a bone marrow transplant at Mayo and was in the hospital for a month. We are exactly the same age and while she was in Mayo we had many talks about growing older, and all that is bitter sweet about it. Thank you Sharon for Billy Collins and Cheerios.
“Growing Older” by the Rev. Vivian Cobb Anderson
How often do we stop and wonder
What was it I was going to do?
What was It I came to get?
I can’t remember. I can’t recall.
Where was that shop I like so much
Have they moved way?
Or have I grown old
And just forgotten where they are?
I can’t remember.
I can’t recall
What was the name of that woman who greeted me?
I know that face from somewhere
And she knows me
But I can’t recall her name
I can’ remember
I can’t recall.
Losing one’s memory
Is more than the absence of facts
A life is lost
In the process of forgetting
Memories become
Broken fragments. Shards
And remains is a dark hole
Where names and places
Cannot be retrieved
I can’t remember.
I can’t recall
It will happen one day
To us all.
On Losing things–the same theme by Nancy Baldwin
My days are filled with
losing things, forgetting things, dropping things, spilling things,
But please dear Lord
may I never lose you, or forget you
and when I drop, will you pick me up
and spill your gracious love over me always.
Lost Keys
Most merciful and loving Father
You care for the sparrow’s fall and know
my sitting down and my rising up
surely nothing is too insignificant for your loving attention
I lost my keys on my shopping trip to the mall yesterday
Finding then would be nothing short of a miracle
since I cannot remember where I was when I saw them last
nor do I know at what point in my shopping I know longer had them
I am not asking for a miracle but I need your help
Am I becoming too absentminded and forgetful in my old age to function safely?
Should I be thinking of the next step when independent living is no longer advisable
And will I know when that time comes?
I never expected to live into my eighties, but here I am
So far I have been able to see the humor in all the changes age has brought
And you know I have always looked forward eagerly to the future
including the last stage of life–death and whatever adventure follows
But worrying about my keys has not seemed funny at all, and I have even been tempted to depression–and old problem I thought I had put behind me long ago.
My reaction to losing my keys makes me concerned and a little frightened about growing older
I am trying to let go and turn it all over to you, but it is so difficult. Please help! I ask in the name of your Son, my Lord. Amen
–Helen Hobbs
In the Bible old people are valued and useful, unlike our society where old people are tossed on the scrap heap of insignificance. Abraham and Sarah, approaching 100 became the father and mother of the Hebrew nation. Moses led the children of Israel out of the trammels of Egypt when he was well past retirement age. Elizabeth, old and barren, became pregnant with the child who grew up to be John the Baptist.
Here are some final thoughts about growing older:
Before middle age: do not fear
After middle age Do not regret
If you can possibly do it
get together with old classmates, old colleagues, old friends
It’s just that there’s not that much time left.
Treat sickness with optimism
whether rich or poor
Everyone has to go through birth sickness and death
There are no exceptions that’s life.
Do not be afraid or worried when you are sick
settle all the issues beforehand
and you can leave without regret.
If worries can cure your sickness
go ahead and worry
If worries can prolong your life, go ahead and worry
If worries can exchange for happiness , go ahead and worry
Let the doctors handle your body
Let God handle your life
But be responsible for your moods
For we walk by faith and not by sight.
In happy MOMENTS PRAISE GOD
In difficult MOMENT SEEK God
In quiet moments worship god
In painful moments trust God
treasure the things in your life
there are four things in life to treasure
your old body; pay more attention to your health more
only you can do this rely on yourself for this
your family for they are dear to you
your companion treasure every moment you have together
for one of you will leave first
your old friends
seize all opportunities to meet up with them
for such opportunities will become rare as time goes by
God loves you because of who God is
not because of anything you did or did not do
everything can change in the blink of any eye
but don’t worry, God never blinks
five things you cannot recover in life
the stone after its’ thrown
the word after its said
the occasion after its missed
the time after its gone
the person, after they die
each friend represents a world in us, a world not possibly born until they arrive
and it is only by this meeting that a new
world is born
you are on of God’s children
from the time you were born
until the time you die.