Learning and Aging
Aging and learning how to age at the same time is hard work. It’s like on-the-job training for skills I don’t get to use for long! I just learn how to not take my self so seriously, and then I seriously need help!
Part of growing older has meant cutting myself some slack; but keep working on myself – as gardener and a woman – and a painter. Never give up hope of becoming a better me while I can. And trusting that no matter how I feel, I am not alone.
The promise God will not leave me alone in the messes I make or am given is precious – better than that pot of gold at rainbow’s end I always thought I would find.
Everybody Is Dealing with Stuff!
More importantly, I have come to believe everybody has something in their own gardens they want to take care of – whether young or old. I may be able to help in little ways – but turning them over to the care of the Master Gardener – who truly understands the layout of their lives – is always on my to-do list.
Learning To Age from a TV Character
On many days, I feel like Sister Monica Joan in Call the Midwife! A fictional character who models aging well, though frail, and failing, herself. She is a vessel of humility and grace that is often poured out onto the lives of others.* (Even with loose wires. ) No, I am not quite in her league – yet. But, what I glean from the sister’s character is the parts of the fruit of the Spirit she exhibits, especially Love.
Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. ~ Variation of an old quote
God help me remember love is a noun and a verb. What I want, I can give — don’t let me procrastinate for I may not get a second bite at that apple in these uncertain times!
Even the richest soil, if left uncultivated will produce the rankest weeds. ~Leonardo da Vinci
Learning This Lesson
* Living with Purpose in a Worn-Out Body, Missy Buchanan, page 92.