Younger with each passing year
Is there an expiration date on our ability to experience productive, fresh activity? Recognizing that God’s children are created as balanced, whole, and capable empowers us to live those qualities more freely – no matter what our age.
As our hiking group rounded the corner on the last descent of a 30-mile loop in the Rocky Mountains, some much younger hikers we encountered commented that they hoped they were still hiking mountain passes when they got to our stage in life. The funny thing is, wilderness hiking with a 40-pound pack is something I would never have thought myself capable of in my 20s – but am now enjoying later in life!
Growing up, I never thought of myself as athletic or outgoing. But as a young woman, I found the real me in my study of Christian Science, which was discovered by the founder of this news organization, Mary Baker Eddy. What I was learning changed my whole way of thinking about life and has made all the difference in my day-to-day approach to living and aging.
Christian Science is based on the Bible, which brings such a timeless, limitless view of life when looked at through a spiritual lens. For example, the first chapter of Genesis describes God as our creator, making each of us to reflect a full range of the infinite qualities of divine Spirit. Our nature is entirely spiritual, complete, strong, enduring, and very good.
As I studied, it dawned on me that my abilities and identity weren’t defined by my age, gender, or place in the family I grew up in. Rather, they come from God, Spirit, and with this inheritance, we have access to an unlimited range of thoughts and talents in our efforts to express good. There is simply no limit to what we are capable of doing and being!
As I embraced this fuller idea of life created and sustained by God – who is Life itself – and myself as a representative of that full Life, it felt as if cement weights that had been weighing my life down were suddenly removed.
These ideas came into further focus as I read the inspired take on life and aging found in the textbook of Christian Science, Mrs. Eddy’s book “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.” It can seem that we are born with certain gifts and limitations, and that as we age we inevitably suffer a decline in abilities. But Christian Science explains that as we mature in spiritual understanding, learning more of God and of our nature as God’s children, we find ever greater freedom. God is forever fueling our lives with new ideas and inspiration! “God expresses in man the infinite idea forever developing itself, broadening and rising higher and higher from a boundless basis,” Science and Health explains (p. 258).
In the Bible, many prophets and in particular Christ Jesus proved time and again that neither age, time, place, nor illness can keep us from continuing to thrive as expressions of the one eternal Life, God. “Life is eternal,” Science and Health affirms, and shortly after it encourages us, “Let us then shape our views of existence into loveliness, freshness, and continuity, rather than into age and blight” (p. 246). When we live the idea that there is no end or limit to the good we can experience and accomplish, then every day becomes an opportunity to find new ways to express the infinite possibilities of Life, God.
This isn’t an exhausting endeavor – it’s not about knocking ourselves out trying to become more youthful, fit, or well-rounded. Rather, at any age, we can find refreshment and rejuvenation in being active as we realize that we already are balanced, whole, and productive as God’s ideal, spiritual offspring.
That’s what I’ve experienced. Embracing these ideas changed the way I think about my and others’ capabilities. Now I am always looking for fresh ways to express Life, God – such as savoring new ideas that occur to me in my profession as a Christian healer, trying out a new recipe, walking the dog on a new trail, or hiking over a mountain.
Recently another younger person our hiking group encountered remarked, commenting on our age, “They don’t make folks like you in my hometown.” We all laughed, but I thought, “They sure do.” Each one of us is a unique and unlimited reflection of the eternal Life that is God. Each day, no matter how we were raised or how old we are, brings with it new opportunities, and loads of goodness.