A Few Thoughts about Getting Older

Today is my birthday.  Which brings inevitable thoughts about getting older.  I can remember when, once upon a time, I thought anyone who had passed their 60th birthday was really old.  Having passed that milestone several years ago, I no longer think of it in quite the same way.  Because the truth is, I really don't think of myself as old.  I don't feel old.  At least, not on most days.  Other days, well, that's a different story......

I'm interrupting my self-imposed blogging break to share a few thoughts about getting older.  Recently I have been reading Pursue the Intentional Life by Jean Fleming.  I'm not sure how this book first got my attention.  Likely it was when I had ordered another book from Amazon and this came up on the "people who ordered what you ordered also ordered this" page.  The title intrigued me, particularly since being intentional is very much on my heart and mind these days.  In fact, I recently wrote a post on this topic.  You can find it here: http://susanssittingroom.blogspot.com/2014/07/a-creature-of-habit-few-thoughts-about.html

As I'm making my way slowly and thoughtfully through Pursue the Intentional Life, there are already a number of things that have jumped off the page into my head and heart.  (I'm not reading slowly because this is a difficult book to read.  Quite the contrary, it is very easy reading, but I want to do more than just read it and then check it off my list; I want to ponder what I'm reading.)

One of the things that first stood out to me was Fleming's question to herself:  what kind of old woman will I be?  And there is the companion question:  how should I think about my remaining years? 

In this season of life, these questions mirror the questions of my own heart.  What is my life purpose in this season of life?  What should I be doing in this season?  What should I be becoming in this season?  How can I bring God glory in this season of my life? 

In chapter 2, "Why I Wrote This Book", Fleming writes, "I see this book as a touchstone in my spiritual journey.....a book to help me live my highest until the Lord calls me home.  I long to see Christ's life formed in me.  I want to become the person God had in mind when He created me.  I yearn to touch the world for God's glory and advance His kingdom.  The substance of this book represents my earnest desire to 'number [my] days....that [I] may gain a heart of wisdom.' (Psalm 90:12)"

That statement mirrors the desire of my heart in this season of my life.  And so I continue to read, and to ponder, and to search out God's plan for me in this season.

Fleming shares that Jonathan Edwards, that great American preacher of days gone by, had seventy resolutions for his life, all of which he wrote while in his early twenties, and which he read every week for the rest of his life.  His Resolution 52 is one to take to heart, no matter which season of life we are in.

"I frequently hear persons in old age say how they would live, if they were to live their lives over again.  Resolved, that I will live as I shall wish I had done, supposing I live to old age."

Today, on the occasion of my 64th birthday, that is my resolution, for the coming year and for all the years ahead:  to live as I shall wish I had done.

Edwards read his seventy resolutions every week.  That kind of reflection requires time.  Where do we find that kind of time in the frantic pace of life in the 21st century?
We don't "find" it.  We have to choose it.  To work at it.  Today, on my birthday, my prayer is that, in the days to come, I would choose well.

Today, on my birthday, my gift to you is to make you aware of this book, Pursue the Intentional Life.  To recommend it to you.  And to pray for you who read this, that we might all choose the intentional life.  That we might all seek to "number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom."

And now the blogging break continues!

"It is my longing and intention to live in Jesus, with Jesus, and for Jesus, to the end of my life." (Jean Fleming in Pursue the Intentional Life)