We Are Each Younger Today Than We Will Ever Be--But We Can Also Claim More Experience

Three of us, Harold Miller, Lewis Overholt and I meet for regular conversations in a pavilion in nearby Park Woods. We have known each other for most of our lives, but now find ourselves close neighbors and best friends. Harold and Annetta spent much of their life in Kenya, East Africa, and Lewis and Mary Ellen lived and worked for decades in Berlin, Germany and then in Americus, Georgia. I consider them my esteemed elder siblings.

Remember the days of old;
consider the years long past.
Ask your father, and he will tell you,
your elders, and they will teach you.

Deuteronomy 37:7 Holman Christian Standard Bible

We're often told that growing old is hard, and not for the faint of heart, but also that age is just a number, and that we should never limit the good we can do or define the good we can be by how many years we've lived.

One of the good things we can be is a treasury of good memories and of good values we can pass on to the next generation. We can serve as a vital link between the past and the present, and between this life and the one to come. 

So let's celebrate the fact that today and every day we are as young as we will every be, and at the same time still capable of learning and of gaining ever more wisdom as we go--and as we grow.

We are all a part of a continued story. Our ancestors' experiences live on in us, and we will, for better or worse, live on in the lives of our descendants.

I find all of that sobering, challenging and life giving.

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There is no more noble way to spend these years than to become an elder, to bear witness to the world as placeholders for peace, love, wisdom, and fearlessness. —Kathleen Dowling Singh

(from Richard Rohr's Daily Mediations)

Addendum: My friend Harold Miller just reminded me of today's very fitting lectionary reading: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/092422.cfm!