"The Fountain of Age"
This Sunday will be "Senior Sunday". It is a time to celebrate the active and vital ministry our senior church members are doing.
I will pursue the idea that there is healthy and unhealthy aging. There are ways that look at aging that involve denial. There are ways that look at aging that consider what is appropriate and helpful.
I will use a number of resources but primarily a book by Betty Friedan and her book The Fountain of Age.
She writes:
"The unexpectedness of this new quest has been my adventure into age. I realized that all the experiences I have had--as daughter, student, grandmother, teacher, leader, friend, lover, confronting real and phantom enemies and dangers, the terrors of divorce and my own denial of age--all of it, mistakes, triumphs, battles lost and won, and moments of despair and exaltation, is part of me now: I am myself at this age. It took me all these years to put the missing pieces together, to confront my own age in terms of integrity and generativity, moving into the unknown future with a comfort now, instead of being stuck in the past. I have never felt so free."
That is our goal. To put together all our experiences and to move forward with them and to become who we are and to be comfortable with that.
Ultimately, to find ourselves at a point in our lives when we have never been so free.
What does it take to get there?
If you have thoughts on this subject write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to share your thoughts with the readers of the blog click on the 'comments' box below.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Charles Schuster
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