Aging with Grace

I've been thinking about age a lot lately and the whole idea of aging with grace and beauty. I was out walking the other day and was admiring all the beautiful colors on the leaves. They are gradually turning color this year, but are just gorgeous in their brilliant red, gold, orange and shades of brown.

As they turn color they are starting to fall and they line the path where I walk with a blanket of colors. And it's a spectacular sight. 

But as the season goes on and more leaves let go of the branch and drop to the ground, there are always a stubborn few who refuse to let go. They stick tightly to the branch and wither and die and some actually remain there all winter long, only to drop in the spring.

This reminds me of aging and raises the question of how do we age with grace and beauty and know when to let go of activities, ministries, and things we've always done? How do we know when the time has come to set aside from what we've always loved doing on order to allow others to pick it up?

Our family is dealing with this with our aging parents and they are facing the reality that they can no longer do the things they used to do. And they aren't necessarily handling it well. We love them. We understand the difficulty, but it is making our lives very hard and stressful. And it is another reminder that I don't want to repeat that pattern.

I realize I'm only 62, and while for some of my 30 year old friends that may seem old, I know I have a good number of years left in me. But I also that the time is coming when I need to transition from some of the activity and ministry I do, but I'm not always sure how to do that.

I do know I want to age with grace and beauty. I want to move over and make room for the younger generations so they can thrive and grow and serve. I want to make room for their ideas and thoughts and be okay if it looks different than the way I do something.

I think that will happen if I recognize that God is at work in their lives and He may be leading them in a different direction. It will happen if I realize that I may be able to continue to minister by being a mentor and prayer warrior for those who have the ability to do more of the hands on activity as I age. It happens when I am confident in my position in Christ and that has to do with who He says I am and not in the activity I do. 

If all of my worth is in my activity then I am going to be devastated when I can't do that activity any more. If it's in how others see me, I will be destroyed when all they see is an old woman. But if my worth is in Christ then I can be at peace knowing my value.

Aging is not easy, but I want to do it well. I want to fall gracefully from the branch still full of vibrant color. I want to line the pathway for other younger ones to walk so they can step into what God has for them. I don't want to cling so tightly to the branch that I wither and die and refuse to let go.

Life is such a balancing act of knowing when to hang on and when to let go. I certainly understand this much better than I did twenty years ago and I have a lot more empathy than I used to for my aging friends. Aging is hard at times.

However, let's make sure we know when the time has come for us to let go of certain activity so that we can be a beautiful and shining example of aging with grace. God can still use us even though it may be very different. But aging with grace sets a beautiful example for those who will be coming behind.