I wonder how many of you have a place in your home (or the one where you grew up) with marks on the wall to show how tall you were growing. I didn’t, but I know others who have that memory. It was obvious that from the moment you were born there was an expectation that you would grow, not just taller but in every other way as well. Milestones were significant and parents eagerly awaited marking each one.

But what happens when those milestones we all recall and look forward to have been checked off the list? When does that happen? Is it after formal education ends, after a wedding? Somehow it can seem as though no one looks so much at growth after these big milestones. Does that mean it is supposed to somehow plateau? Do we grow heavier but not smarter, more interesting, and wiser?

Is there a downward slope toward our senior years and retirement without much expectation of growth? It matters to me more now since I am in that senior category with adult children and six amazing grandchildren already in adulthood. And I am not naive to think I am not the actual age that my birth certificate says, but I am still interested in learning new things, having new adventures.

This week I was reading something that jumped off the page at me. Let me share it with you:

“Aging is inevitable, but it’s biologically programmed to be a slow process. Most of what we call aging, and most of what we dread about getting older, is actually decay. That’s critically important because we are stuck with real aging, but decay is optional.”

Chris Crowley and Dr. Henry S. Lodge in Younger Next Year

Okay, you’re right, there are things that are going to change. Our hair color (if we choose), our skin tone and texture, gravity takes its toll, senior discounts show up in our inbox or our mailbox, and more. There are also those genetics we talk about or hear our doctors ask us questions about, but more doctors are aware that we can affect those genetics more than we once thought by the lifestyle decisions we start making in mid-life and beyond. And it’s not just our exercise choices (or not) and our dietary choices that matter, even though these are big keys to how “gold” those golden years may be. Whether we continue to enjoy learning something more or different, have a passion we are committed to pursue long after we enter that last third of our lives, and hence, keep growing are all key. And that is all about stewardship of all that God gave us.

There are cultural differences in how we approach aging that impact us a great deal. They don’t just affect how others view us but also how we view ourselves. More than ten years ago I read a fascinating book some of you may have heard of entitled The Gift of Years (Growing Old Gracefully) by Joan Chittister. Her book is chocked full of nuggets to rethink your view of aging and growing.

“It is not getting older that is difficult. It is the fear of getting older that plagues us.

When we count age as nothing but a series of losses, we lose sight of its gains.

What we must not do is do nothing. We cannot allow ourselves to die from the outside in. It may be necessary to live with a body that is changing. That we can’t avoid. But the shape of life itself we can control. We are responsible for the shape of our world, however much it seems to be reshaping itself.”

Joan Chittister in The Gift of Years

Another key is to not cut yourself off from meaningful relationships. God designed us for them and when we have them, whether a spouse, a dear friend, or a small group of “buddies” we enjoy hanging out with, it results in a better quality and longer life for any one of us.

We see a number of great examples about how various persons in the Bible approached age. One of my favorites is in the Old Testament book of Joshua. In Joshua 14:12-15 we see the story of Caleb whom we met as one of the 12 spies Moses sent to check out the Promised Land. Only he and Joshua saw the fruit in the new land despite the giants they would face. They saw the possibilities with God. Now at this point in the story only Joshua and Caleb are left entering that new land. Caleb is 80 and yet he tells Joshua “give me that mountain” as the land he will occupy. That says a lot about how Caleb approached life and how his faith continued to grow.

You see I think God intends that we continue to grow long after those marks on the wall at home have faded from view. It won’t look the same for me as it does for you, but (like Caleb) we need to look at the possibilities out there and not only look in the rear-view mirror. One of my dear friends will be 91 in a few months. Yes, she has a variety of evidence of aging going on, but not so long ago when I was feeling overwhelmed with handling my husband’s recovery from surgery, she arrived in our driveway with a multi-course meal she had prepared. Her face was beaming because this is what she most loves to do – bless others with food she prepares when things are not as easy for them.

Possibilities…they are endless if you take time to discover them and allow the Lord to continue to grow you up in Him.

“Who hasn’t gone through a period in life when they wished they could simply disappear and start all over again? What most of us do not realize is that today old age is that new life. And we must deal with it, in one way or the other. The gift is recognizing the potential of it, both spiritual and social, and knowing what to do with it.

We get to make new friends, to develop new activities, new routines, new social circles with them. We begin to do untried things in unprecedented places. And we get to tell all the old stories to a whole new group of people.

There is startling experience of variety in it all. A kind of giddy sense of possibility.

We no longer have to wear the old roles that so defined us for so many years…”

Joan Chittister in The Gift of Years

Life is still in you if you are reading this. How can you spend it today? What mountain is there for you to conquer?

I love a good story.

You know the kind I mean.

No matter what the genre or whether it is told or written, a good story pulls you in and catches you up in the story. I sense the person beyond the character descriptions and watch how each one develops while cheering on my favorite. There is just a hint of uncertainty about what will happen next that makes me want to listen longer or keep turning the page and the author doesn’t show me how the plot will unfold specifically despite clues along the way.

I have always loved to read and by now I have little patience for a book that doesn’t coax me to keep on reading because it gives too much away, has stereotypical characters, words used that require a dictionary on nearly every page, or a plot that wanders to such a degree that I am no longer sure what it is.

This spring has been a banquet for me because nearly every favorite author of mine in the world of fiction has published a new book and yes, I pre-ordered each one (except I just discovered I forgot one). I always like to have one good fiction book going while I have one or two others going at the same time. The others will usually include something related to healthy lifestyle or food, something very inspirational, and something that contains new information I want to explore. Stories that contain historical settings never fail to appeal to me as do great biographies.

My husband knows that if I am caught up in a good story and it nears the last few chapters, I may not be able to go to bed until I finish it. That happened to me in childhood as well and sometimes I would get into trouble with my mother when she found me with the covers over my head and a flashlight reading after I was supposed to be asleep. Sometimes the book I would be caught reading back then was the Bible. Each one of the 66 books seemed to offer a new adventure to follow even if sometimes I got lost in the lineage sections at the beginning or couldn’t follow the archaic King James words as well. I can still recall the smell of the paper of that first Bible that was tucked under the covers with my flashlight. I kept hoping I wouldn’t get caught and need to stop reading but that hope usually was not realized. But it didn’t deter me from trying again and again. The themes of good against evil and stories of the most unlikely heroes were more fascinating than the reading books I had from school.

Each of us has a story of our own that is being added to moment by moment. Each one includes comedic points, sad points, and points that are chaotic, and crisis filled. How we respond to our own stories impact how we respond to the stories of those around us and whether we will value them. They will shape the lens we use to see the world, its unfolding events, people, and circumstances. Some of us will be realists. Others optimists or pessimists. Major events play a significant role in shaping these lenses.

We can see that from the dawn of history there has been one catastrophe after another and there appears to be no end to them or a way to stop them. If we didn’t know it before, we learned it well with the “war to end all wars.” It can cause some of us to use optimism to create a world that is better or where we can control the outcome. When we do that, we also miss the big storyline and plot we see written in the Bible when those who believe it see the beginning of all created things. From the outset the story seemed to be less than perfect with one catastrophe happening after another. How could God allow that to happen? Where was the plot going anyway?

Certainly, Lucy wondered about that as she sought out Aslan to sort out what was happening in Narnia that had changed spring into winter. C.S. Lewis captures our puzzlement about what is unfolding with an unmatched skill in his epic tale, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. Our belief system points to the storyline we believe and what we understand the plot is all about.

“The catastrophe was caused, Christians believe, by a primeval act of rebellious disobedience that attempted to circumvent or displace God. But that is not the popular belief. The popular belief is that however bad things seem from time to time, there is no catastrophe. To face the fact of a catastrophe would involve, at some point or other, dealing with God. Anything seems preferable to that. So the devil doctors the report, the world edits the evidence. People reduce their perceptions of catastrophe to a level that is manageable without getting God into the picture in any substantial way. And so the same act that caused the catastrophe, perpetuates it.”

Eugene Peterson in Reversed Thunder

If we take that route (some of us may have tried), it doesn’t get us very far or work very well because it seems one catastrophe after another occurs with increasing intensity. Those who know the plot of the story the Bible tells know a better way.

“Salvation is the plot of history. It is the most comprehensive theme of scripture, overtaking and surpassing catastrophe. Salvation is God’s determination to rescue his creation; it is his activity in recovering the world. It is personal and impersonal, it deals with souls and cities, it touches sin and sickness. There is a reckless indiscrimination about salvation. There are no fine distinctions about who or what or when – the whole lost world is invaded, infiltrated, beckoned, invited, wooed: “for God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.” God takes on the entire catastrophe.”

Eugene Peterson in Reversed Thunder

If you are wondering when He will settle the score once and for all, don’t stop reading his story (the Bible) until you see how He wraps up the storyline in the end. It’s a spectacular ending and I think you will want to be a part of it with Him.

It’s one of those times of the year when authors are releasing new books. If you follow me regularly, you know that I enjoy a variety of books from those for information to deeper dives into inspiration as well as a good fiction book to read as I relax in the evening. It’s easy when I see a favorite author has a new release to get the new book. 

Melanie Dobson is one of my favorite fiction authors and just released her latest book, The Lost Story of Via Belle. This style of writing introduces readers early in the book to several different characters (each with his or her own chapter plus a hint of their story) and different time periods for each character. Then little by little the threads of overlapping stories occur keeping the reader guessing until the final chapters of the book.

If you enjoy that type of book, The Lost Story of Via Belle, will not disappoint. In the opening pages you meet Olivia Ashe and it’s 1940. Olivia is a successful author of sweet romance novels living in a small town in Pennsylvania with her husband, Graham, a pastor. Readers love her stories as they typically have a happily ever after ending but with the sudden death of her husband, Olivia’s life with loss results in no new stories growing in her mind. The turret where she writes with her typewriter sets silent in her idyllic home. 

An unexpected invitation to speak on a panel of authors at a college in Ohio introduces her to a man at the event who expresses interest in her and her work. Over weeks and months he (Simon) pursues a friendship with her. Ultimately, he proposes marriage and despite Olivia’s uncertainties and advice from those close to her, she finally agrees to marry this much younger man. When she suddenly vanishes without a trace, suspicion of a scandal results in a mystery leaving those who love her and her readers unsettled.

The parallel story of Harper in 2006 opens the second chapter. Harper is a young woman living on the property of a movie producer in California serving in the role of caterer for the events he hosts that had been her mother’s position before she died. Her imagination fills her mind with stories for possible movie scripts but she has not found anyone interested in her scripts including the producer she works for. A blunder at an event threatens to result in her termination so she resigns before that can happen. She has no family to go to but her mother had close friends in Pennsylvania who were like family and she decides to ask them if she can come for a visit while she determines what to do next. They eagerly welcome her and this sets the stage for how the two main characters (Olivia and Harper) begin to intersect through unusual and mysterious circumstances.

Can Harper find the story she is looking for by looking for what happened to Olivia?

Melanie Dobson has a reader turning page after page as she weaves a story keeping a reader guessing what will happen next and how she will skillfully connect the stories of these two women. Only in the final chapters of this fascinating book will the truth be revealed.

Don’t miss The Lost Story of Via Belle if you enjoy a good fiction story with lots of twists and turns and surprises. I loved it.

In “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers”, Legolas speaks to Gimli about the trees of Fangorn Forest waking up. How much our family loves this trilogy of movies!

I don’t live in Fangorn Forest and I am fairly certain our trees do not speak to each other, but at long last spring has steadily and slowly arrived and the trees indeed are waking up.

I love the word picture of trees awakening. It can be easy to see the trees as dead after autumn in the Midwest and other parts of the country that enjoy all four seasons. They are not dead at all, but only asleep, in a state of dormancy, conserving their resources. The Lord created them to temporarily stop growth, development, and physical activity to conserve energy. One of the reasons their leaves drop in the fall is so fewer parts of the tree need nourishment.

God has designed them so incredibly that they actually change their membranes on the surface areas so that water migrates from inside the cells to the spaces between the cells. This makes them more pliable. Then, as the trees convert starches to sugar in the fall, these sugars act in the same capacity as antifreeze, lowering the overall freezing point of the trees.

How marvelous are His works! What a Creator He is!

If He has so carefully designed the mechanisms of the trees to withstand the harsh winds and temperatures of winter, how could we ever be tempted to doubt His provision for us during the harsh seasons of our lives?

Everywhere we look, He reminds us that He has and is providing for us. We can look at the tree as provision for its beauty, its fruit, its shade, or its wood, but it often goes without notice of the provision for the tree in order for it to provide all of those things.

There is a truth there. His provision comes layer upon layer in intricate detail. That provision may seem scarce or non-existent even as the trees appear dead in winter, but the Lord has not forgotten.

The last few days I have been able to enjoy walks where the Lord has been drawing my eyes to the evidences of His creation being summoned to awaken. The steadily increasing warmth of the days and the lengthening hours of light are nudges to the trees to awaken even though an unseasonable few warm days early can fool the trees.

Light. How key it is to everything!

Trees and plants of all kind need light to be fruitful.

We, too, need light to bring us out of the darkness, to awaken us into life.

We need ongoing light for growth and fruitfulness.

We need the Light of the World!

I can only imagine what it will be like when the Light of the World returns and awakens this world!  Then we will truly behold Him and see the whole of what we cannot see now.

The speed of life propelled by the nearly instant electronic media that we use every day can have a significant effect on each of us. Our minds and hearts flit from one thing to another without even realizing how often we are not fully present. All of this also tempts us to not be as satisfied with the gift of the present. We scroll through things online that we think will add to our happiness and keep looking ahead for what we hope will be different, better, or more for tomorrow. Contentment can seem elusive many days.

We talk about wanting to slow down but the habits we have acquired keep creeping back in. The enforced change of pace during the pandemic revealed how much shifting our lives into a slowed neutral pace felt uncomfortable. The pandemic also didn’t help us with the stress and uncertainty that came with it. Some are sadly still sorting out how to move back into whatever the new pace for us might be and somewhat less likely to visit the shopping mall or go to a movie than they once did.

Uncertainties have left more of us anxious than ever before as we desire to know more about what lays ahead while also dreading or fearing it. Some of us have come through these things with a fresh appreciation for the gift and provision of each day and want to hang onto some of that as we move back into our previous pace.

“When we are young, time goes very slowly, not because time is anything but regular because we are always rushing then. Living in the moment is not the mark of youth. Instead, the young are always on the way to somewhere else. They have no patience for now – because they live their lives trying to get beyond the confines of now to the possibilities of soon. They want to get to be older, to be independent, to be important, to be wealthy, to be somebody. They are immersed in wanting.

The old, on the other hand, have long ago exhausted both the wanting and the going and the striving. They are immersed in being. Being alive, being healthy, being present to the moment, being who they are, being happy, being young again in delight and in vision.”

Joan Chittister

Little wonder that we as believers have challenges living in “the now and the not yet.” We forget how often we lean forward to Christ’s return and lose the opportunities of today. We forget what God so patiently tried to teach the children of Israel in the wilderness by supplying them manna just for that one day and what happened when they didn’t trust that. We forget that God doesn’t tell us a lot of things in advance because his provision for those things will not arrive until those things happen. He also knows we would seek to try to control what isn’t yet upon us without trusting Him for the “then.”

“God conceals much that we do not need to know, yet we do know that He calls us His own sheep by name and leads them out. When does that begin? Does the Shepherd overlook anything that the sheep need?”

Elisabeth Elliott

The matter of looking at time brings a song from the epic musical Les Misérables to mind (“One Day More”) and how those in this story of the revolution in France are measuring time. The lyricists (Alain Boublil and Herbert Kretzmer) begin the song with the lines, “One day more, another day, another destiny” and goes on considering life and what lays ahead. As the powerful song closes, the words reflect on a truth that is more to the point for each of us…

“Tomorrow we’ll discover
What our God in Heaven has in store
One more dawn
One more day
One day more”

We forget in the paradox of living within time that we both have more of it and less of it than we imagine. What is key for us each day is what we do with the gift of time given to us. We can squander it by looking back at what didn’t happen, what we missed, what we were owed, or what we regret or stretch out trying to live in a better tomorrow that we paint with better colors and tones. All the while, the time under our noses keeps slipping away.

As we stand on tiptoes anticipating Christ’s return, let us not forget to take advantage of every moment of today to live well for Him and use that which He has placed within us for his glory.

“Time is a wondrous thing, if only I fill it well. If I do not allow the passing of time to diminish my spirit but, instead, see it as a call to live life to the dregs… Then time is my friend, not my enemy. It gives me a heightened sense of life. It urges me to discover it all. It marks the fullness of life, its mellowing, and it releases in me the self that has been coming into existence from the beginning.”

Joan Chittister