OUR SPIRITUAL GOAL...HUMILITY

[We] let God lead [us] into the fullness of Reality; not away from dilemmas and paradoxes, but right onto the horns of the human dilemma! --  Fr Richard Rohr, "Daily Meditation," January 6, 2021

We hear...have ever heard...that old age isn't for sissies, but we never heard the specifics...the whys, the how does it come to be so? "Never heard" translated: We didn't pay attention because we knew it wouldn't apply to us. 

Here's a tish of what my friends and I are learning in our 80s: 

When we lean on our reasoning mind more, our self-confidence takes flight. We become unsure. Who's kidding whom? We're dealing with a dicey memory, with ebbing ability, even our want-to curls up in a corner of our mind. 

Then spiritual-muscle memory kicks in at a turtle pace, and in a hopeful glimpse of the obvious, we  double down on our known experience with God. We remind ourself that just because our sense of self-confidence has gone missing does not mean we have lost all of our abilities or our capabilities. We pray our thank you and try. 

We accept the loss of friends and partners through their moves "to be nearer family" or "to Florida" or, face it, to death. We go forward slower now, feeling the drag of aloneness, doing what is before us to do. Praying our thank you, hopefully.  

But we gain a surer awareness (with patience!) that the Father within really does do the works, really is doing the works. Only with healthy reverence do we find confidence and coherence...if we let go and let God. If, however, we stand in the way, we are the way...uh-oh.

What I believe today is that we are the unearned but born-to-be beloved child of God/healthy, loving human that we ever were. It is the natural process of aging that our ego links with. Our ego, the same beloved bane it ever was, is just as powerless before God as it ever was. There...thank you made whole. 

I must remind myself...a lot...that all the perils and the gifts of old age give us our spiritual goal, humility. For this we go through the crucible to come out the other side, gold...a.k.a., gratefully humble.

Old age is more proof that God loves us...and is not for sissies.

Thank you.