So This is Where We Are

About a week ago, I was peacefully lying supine in my comfortable bed, drifting off to sleep, when my eyes suddenly opened to Dan standing over me. Closely over me.

“WHAT are you doing?” I inquired, irritated.

“Uh – making sure you’re still breathing,” he said sheepishly.

So this is where we are. Shocking.

I want to age gracefully – but with a bit of resistance – and with hope that if I’m diligent, I can optimize my abilities. But if I’m honest, I’ve noticed that I display a certain increasing vigilance regarding Dan’s welfare as well. If he’s working on a project and I hear a loud noise, I need to confirm that it was an object hitting the ground and not his body. And I was more than a little irritated that he recently purchased an eight foot ladder “on a great sale.”  Ladders = Risk.

And I don’t like it if I’m at work and he’s home and not answering his phone – a frequent occurrence. He isn’t emotionally tethered to it, so don’t take it personally if you text him and he doesn’t respond. He goes long periods without checking it now that he’s retired. What if something happened?

This is all a bit surprising to me. Frankly, I’ve always been the labrador retriever in the family. I went for years with a minimum of concern for personal safety. Dan’s always been the adult in the relationship and he finally disabused me of some of the perilous notions and habits of my youth. He was a born locker and checker. (Thanks, babe.)

As Truvy said in “Steel Magnolias,” “Time marches on, and eventually you realize it’s marchin’ across your face.” So, my vintage friends – have you noticed ways that your attitudes are changing as you move into your “seasoned citizen” years? Are you more careful about anything that surprises you? Or have you thrown caution to the wind because it’s been a great ride and you want to wring all the fun you can out of your golden years?

This week, Searcy lost one of our most  recognizable citizens. Al Fowler contributed much to the community far into his “golden years,” and the documentary history of recent decades in our little town will largely be told in photographs he took of every major event. He was also a founding patron of Jacob's Place; homeless families made whole and on their feet again through the auspices of Jacob’s Place will owe him a debt of gratitude for years to come. He was an example of a life of meaningful service well into old age. Something to aspire to. Our own afflictions are always easier to bear when we get out of our own heads and help meet the needs of others.

But, although useful, it’s not merely up to us to inject meaning into our latter years through acts of service. For believers, God’s grace enables us to age with the assurance of God’s constant care for us, both body and soul. D. A. Carson once said, “I’m not suffering from anything a good resurrection can’t fix.” Our afflictions, though they may be severe, are temporary, and God’s grace allows us to maintain a focus on his permanent promises, if we are able to reframe our afflictions in that context.

“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself” (Philippians 3:20–21). And that redemption is the very story through which the redeemed can process every affliction. With every passing day, our redemption is closer than ever before.

-Patti Summers