aging Faith

days, months

years take wing

trying to hold on

leaves me spinning

losing moments

as they pile one 

upon the other

what was yesterday?

what was a decade past?

today I find myself

mourning and missing

the youth of my Faith

her carefree wild days

a dog's life of love

and privilege

daily making the rounds

of her realm, open fields

gravel road, barn cats

to chase, herd

and us, her keepers

teachers, protectors

and she, ours

age doesn't seem to creep in

but declare itself

all at once

her legs still run

but take longer to start

her neck stiff, teeth sore

I try to read 

those deep blue eyes

as if she could tell me

what she would have us do

the answer remains

the same, over years

love me

 

Forsake me not

Do not cast me away when I am old; 

do not forsake me when my strength is gone.

  Psalm 71:9 NIV

For the more than six years that I worked as a region coordinator for the Alzheimer Society of Manitoba I had the above passage from Psalms hanging on my office wall.  It felt like the cry of the spirits of those people I was there to help.

In the constant quest for new we do indeed often cast aside the familiar, the well worn, the old.  Think for a moment of the mad rush around you, the line of people trading in their cell phones for the latest I-Phone 5.  Not that there was anything wrong with the phones they had, but the lure of something newer pulls strong.

I have been spending some time moving in reverse, finding beauty where I had not expected it.  The main character in the novel I am writing learns to know Jesus in a very traditional, liturgical, orthodox church.  I have spent hours exploring the rituals and divine liturgies, and while I know beyond knowing that it is grace that saves me, not ritualistic acts, I have found much to feast upon in the ancient ways.  I am saddened by how much we have forsaken simply because it was old and something more modern caught our attention.

This afternoon, our church fellowship took their turn at presenting the chapel service at both the hospital and the care home.  We led those gathered in singing old songs, words that many sang without needing to scan the pages of the hymn books. Songs that many new believers have never heard for in the midst of our worship wars (and if you haven't noticed worship wars, you are blessed or blind, or simply living in denial) we have left them behind, replaced again and again by new lyrics and melodies.

Can't we bring in the new without casting out the old.  Can we sift and save, blending sweet and rich with the young and fresh, keeping the best of all?

Joining Peter today where the word is old

 

Nearing Home by Billy Graham

I visited the medical clinic recently for a far too long postponed physical check-up.  I walked out with a long list of tests that needed to be done, mostly because of my "age".  Though far from elderly, the years are adding up, and when Billy Graham's Nearing Home was released I thought it a good idea to dive in.

The publisher's page promises:

In what may be his most powerful message of the last decade, Billy Graham speaks to all on this side of Heaven as he covers the importance of four key areas:

Building strong foundations and understanding the gift of years; Facing life’s transitions, including the passing of years, retirement, and when loved ones die; Making wise decisions; Understanding our glorious hope

As one would expect from such a hero of the faith, this book is laced with wisdom from God's Word. The same truths that have sustained him, Billy Graham passes on to us.  I found that I needed not question his advice because it came from God Himself.

Covering issues that many of us would rather not think about, Billy is not without a humorous side:

A headline on an Internet site read, "Death, the nation's #1 killer."  The point was obvious - death is inevitable!

No one can outrun death.  It will catch up to all of us eventually.  When I was interviews by Newsweek in 2006 and asked to give a statement about death, I commented that I had been taught all of my life how to die, but no one had ever taught me how to grow old.

With this book in my hands, I can not make that same statement, for I am being taught by Billy Graham how to live, how to grow old and how to finish the race well, things well worth the learning.

Book has been provided courtesy of Thomas Nelson and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. Available at your favourite bookseller from Thomas Nelson.

The opinions I have shared are my own.