Thursday February 4 2016  GRADUAL DECLINING YEARS

Just a few moments ago I sat down to write an email.  The Sun was shining so brightly in my eyes I had to drop the mini blinds so I could see the screen.   I wrote the email, got up to make a phone call, came back into the sunroom about six or seven minutes later and to my huge surprise the snow was coming down in buckets.  Great big, fat, beautiful snowflakes, gently stirred by the shifting of the wind.  I took a video of the cascading snow but I don’t know how to send videos to my blog site.  It is so beautiful I wish you could see it.  Of course I immediately pulled the blind up so I could sit here and enjoy my panoramic view.  I felt like I was in a snow globe.

What did I say the other day?  If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes!  This is what I was talking about.  Well it might be best for us if it changes back to the way it was.  Five minutes of snowing would be just fine with me.    

I am reading an interesting and enlightening book by Joan Chittister called, “THE GIFT OF YEARS”.  I am thoroughly enjoying it.  Her topic is about the later years of life and the gift they are to us.  It is beautifully written and confirms a lot of the attitudes I have about aging, as well as opening my eyes to even greater possibilities ahead.  Each chapter begins with a famous quote.  One quote I would like to share is a quote from “Seneca”.  I have never read anything Seneca has written but I have heard about him.  I looked him up on the internet to have a better understanding of who he was.  Here is an excerpt from the website:

Seneca

“Born

Cordoba, Spain 

Lucius Annaeus Seneca (often known simply as Seneca) (ca. 4 BC – 65 AD) was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and in one work humorist, of the Silver Age of Latin literature. He was tutor and later advisor to Emperor Nero.” 

Here are his words:

“As for old age,” Seneca said, “embrace and love it. It abounds with pleasure if you know how to use it.  The gradually declining years are among the sweetest in life…Even when they have reached the extreme limit they have their pleasure.”

The above quote was the opening line for the Chapter on “JOY” in Joan Chittister’s book.

Now I expect (and hope) to have many more years ahead of me, but even during the “youth of my old age” his statement makes so much sense.  For one reason, I have already tasted a bit of what he was referring to.  As I reflectively look back to last year, I must admit, stepping out of my comfort zone to take a journey across part the United States, afforded me some of the sweetest pleasure I have experienced in my entire life.  I did exactly what Seneca stated.  I looked for the pleasure and the sweetness as I began the journey of becoming “older”. I stepped out and embraced my age, loving the days of exploring alone.  It was so much more than just an exploration of cities and mountains, rivers and oceans.  It was an exploration within myself.  It was a time of questions.  Questions I didn’t know if I could answer.  My trip challenged me to go forward into the unknown of self.  Who did I think I was to believe that I could do what I set out to do?  It was a challenge to the self I knew, from the self I did not know.  Just in case you are wondering, I think I passed with flying colors.  I actually remember thinking about the fact that I was embracing who I was, and I was determined to love every moment of every day.  I especially like the way Seneca couched the words “The GRADUALLY declining years…”  I think that makes the years ahead sound ever so much sweeter still.  I like the word “gradual”.

There was a new freedom I experienced that I had never experienced before.  I still had pressures and deadlines, but they were pressures and deadlines of my choices,  of my planning.  I had never before experienced the freedom of becoming something more than what was always expected of me.  I was a mother, a wife, a worker, a business owner, involved in so many different areas, from church to small groups, volunteering, speaking, keeping up with all the intricacies of life such as appointments, upkeep, cooking, cleaning, and who knows what else.   I never before had the total freedom to explore, both the outer world around me and my own inner world that existed somewhere deep inside of me.  There were times when I surprised myself.

I think I discovered just how important a positive attitude is.  We sometimes do not give enough credence to how much is affected by our attitude, our outlook on life.  I do not know a time when I ever felt as invigorated and alive as I did those four months I was gone.  In essence, I was on my own.  I had a new responsibility.  The responsibility to look after myself.  Sounds easy enough, but I found that it also needed to be underlined with all the wisdom I could muster.  From my very first night on the road I began to have my eyes opened in a way I never expected.  I found that everything boiled down to ATTITUDE.  I had quite an experience that happened on my very first night.  I have not yet written about it.  It is quite a story that I may choose to share with my readers at a later date.  However I bring it up here because that very first night set the entire precedence of my attitude for the remaining days that loomed ahead.  I truly believe God gave me the wisdom I needed to make the right decision that first night, and it fortified me with such peace and strength.  I believe it set the precedence of every day following.  And it all had to do with ATTITUDE.   The attitude of telling myself every single day that I COULD DO IT!  My attitude spoke loud and clear to the new SELF that was emerging.  Because of the attitude I chose, my new self just blossomed, affecting every area of my life.  My attitude gave me vitality, and very rarely did I even get fatigued.  I felt extremely healthy, slept soundly on every bed, couch, toddler bed, air mattress, and every other kind of bed you can think of, waking up refreshed, with no aches and no pains.  And I don’t ever remember one sleepless night.

It would take me a long time to share all I have learned while on my journey.  Hopefully, as situations and memories come up, I will be able to capture them in my blog as a reminder to myself and to share with my readers.  It is only you, it is only me, that can make the decision how we are going to enter into the “gradually declining years”.  I choose to embrace them.  I choose to allow them to teach me all that I have yet to learn.  I choose to not regret the past and to carry no unforgiveness with me toward anyone. As I travel these last years of my journey I plan to squeeze every bit of sweetness and joy out of every remaining year.  What do you choose?

I also choose to continue making plans for my future.  I choose to learn how to use the years I have left to better know who I am, to have a closer relationship with my Lord, to love others in ways I have never been able to do in the past, because of time constraints, and to allow each day to change its course if necessary, teaching me the art of adaptation.  Never once have I asked, nor do I intend to ask, “What will I do with my time”?  Rather I will ask, “How will I ever accomplish all I desire to do in the time I have?”  I don’t see the years looming ahead as a fearful place to go, like walking into the unknown.  I will embrace the unknown, I will follow the path that I believe God has set before me, and I will challenge myself daily to do whatever must be done. 

At the present, my life is on a journey to rid myself of the baggage of the past, emotionally, spiritually, and physically.  I am enjoying every moment of it.  It is causing me to reflect on thoughts that I have had to put on the back shelf for many years.  As I touch and re-examine each item in my house, I must make a decision to either discard, donate, or keep.  As I consider the fate of all the “things”, memories come flooding back.  And when that happens, I embrace those memories.  I am on a journey.  A journey of release, a journey of going forward.  It is something I choose to do.  It is something I NEED to do.  Along with my de-cluttering  I am rejoicing in the past, just as I am anticipating, that which is yet to come.

 

MY GREATEST TREASURE IS YET TO COME

By Kathleen Martens

February 4, 2016

 

Time has a way of sneaking past,

The hours wriggling away.

The hands of the clock keep ticking by,

With no amount of cajoling will stay.

 

Peanut butter sandwiches and jelly globs,

I thought would last forever.

Always something to do for toddlers,

I thought I was eternally tethered.

 

Babyhood days are now long past

As are Scouts and marching band.

No more fingers reaching up,

To hold a stronger hand.

 

And the frazzle of teen years,

Somehow passed without regrets.

So many things to teach the young,

So their values were righteously set.

 

Then young adults, college and marriage,

And the house became empty and quiet.

The hustle and bustle was all gone,

Peace and calm replaced the riot.

 

More years of work, slaving away

For the almighty dollar.

Always planning for what was to come,

Sometimes wanting to holler.

 

Those days too, finally ended,

Opening a new world of wonder.

There were no bells or whistles,

Or a band resounding thunder.

 

Because of a simple date on a calendar,

No longer part of the working throng.

With the future looming ahead,

Where did we now belong?

 

The alarm no longer set to ring

To signal the hour at hand.

For the first time in adult life,

Our work was no longer in demand.

 

The past was over, no more commute.

Each day packaged as a gift.

Ours to plan, and ours to dream,

And through memories now to sift.

 

And the future holds a promise

Like a late flower waiting to bloom.

And for the first time in our hearts

Our dreams have lots of room.

 

We rejoice in our past, as we look forward

To all that awaits our pleasure.

Our gradually declining years, 

Are yet, are greatest treasure.

Proverbs 16:31  Living Bible

^“ White hair is a crown of glory and is seen most among the godly.”

 

 FUN FACTS:

Warner Communications paid $28 million for the copyright to the song Happy Birthday.

My comment:  I wish I had been the one to write that song!

 

Good night and God bless you!