A Senior’s Moment – Getting Older

By Ruth Gale

Have you ever looked in a mirror and wondered who that person is looking back at you? After a moment’s reflection you realise that person is you. After another moment’s reflection you wonder how you got to this place in such a short time.

We all know we are going to get older but nevertheless it does creep up on us with its changes and challenges.

Some changes are good. If we are fortunate enough to have grandchildren we can enjoy their unconditional love, and delight in who they are without the responsibility of bringing them up. We may have time to do things we have not had time to do before. However, some changes are not so good. We notice physically we are not as strong. A few aches and pains appear. As we reach 65 plus, the word ’retirement’ looms large. For some, this can be a liberating time. For others, depending on circumstances and temperament, it can bring a time of adjustment that can be difficult to accept. We no longer have the social interaction of working, the satisfaction of doing a job and doing it well, nor the knowledge that we are making a contribution to society. In a world that almost worships youth, where technology is increasing at an enormous pace; where wisdom and experience does not seem to be valued, where older people are being reminded that there are too many of us and we are becoming, and will continue to become, a drain on our country’s finances, we can begin to wonder what value we have and what we can offer the world in which we live.

As I have been thinking on these things for myself, I have been reminded that the scripture tells me that God has a plan for my life and that the plan is a good plan. I am God’s creation and when He created me He did so with a specific job for me to do during my life – a plan that only I can fulfill, a job that only I can do, and a plan that will not be complete until I am taken from this world. So whether I am active or become inactive, there is a purpose for my life.

I have also been reminded that God watched over me as I was being formed in my mother’s womb and He has promised to watch over me until my old age and grey hairs. He also tells me that the very hairs on my head are numbered, that He has my name engraved on His hand, and that He will never forget me even if everyone else does. I am valuable in God’s eyes.

Someone has said, ‘we are significant not by what we do but by whose we are’.

I can be confident then as I face these inevitable changes in my life that no matter what my age or my circumstances, my identity is firmly fixed in this: God who created me, loves me and watches over me.