Beginning to Cast Long Shadows

Dan is 54 years old and I am 55 years old, which doesn't seem very old to me.  In my mind I'm still as young as I ever was, but my body is starting to slow down a bit and doesn't always work the way it should.  We have both noticed that our energy level has slowed, but overall we feel young.

In the ministry world, we've noticed a shift.  Churches want to hire young pastors with young families. We are the older ones in many settings and it's strange!  In our own church, we've noticed that it's much more difficult to reach this community as a middle-aged couple with adult children than it would have been when they were little and we were active in school activities. So the connections we would have made when we were younger just aren't there.  Don't get me wrong, we have been able to get to know many wonderful people, but our ministry definitely isn't the same as it was ten years ago.

I am also slowing down in ministry, and the things that I loved to do when I was younger, I just don't want to do anymore. In our last church, I ran all types of outreach activities, ran children's program and was always on the go.  Here, I find that I just don't have the same energy level, and I've been battling injury after injury which is difficult.  I physically can't do what I did.

But, I think in some ways, my ministry here is sweeter. I'm doing more of the things I actually enjoy doing such as women's ministry, teaching from God's word and encouraging. We had our first Great Commission Women meeting and Bible study last night and it was such an encouragement to me.  There were eight of us and we ate together, fellowshipped, laughed, dug into God's word, shared and encouraged each other and it was good.

We are beginning to cast long shadows, and our ministry has shifted and it's a bit of an adjustment for both of us, but we both are enjoying this new stage in our lives. God is still using us for HIs purposes and that is sweet!