Day 38 - Never too Old to Begin Again

You are never too old to begin again. Look at Colonel Tom!

Many believe that because they are in the twilight years of their lives, that they can’t really change or grow much more. “Surely I have grown as high and wide and tall and deep as I can do”.

But they would be wrong. Think of a child and how they develop in their first year. They are so limited in those first few months. They can’t move without help. They can’t eat without being fed. They need their nappies changed constantly. But does this inability or lack of ability to take care of themselves depress them? No it does not.

They love life. They love every second of it. They never stop looking, tasting, feeling and sticking things in their mouths, all in the hope of discovering as much as they can about life today. They have a zest for living that we can learn from. They don’t worry. They accept whatever comes their way. They’re not afraid to cry or scream but neither too do they hold back from giggling and laughing all day long. Being around them is fun. Being around them is energising. We feel blessed to be in the presence of such joy. We wish we could bottle that joy and laughter and zest for life.

In our final years we too may need taking care of and feeding and being pushed around in a wheelchair. However, we too can rediscover a child’s wonder for this world we are a part of. We have the time now. No one really any longer expects much from us. What great freedom that brings.

Some turn themselves off twenty, thirty or even forty years before they take their final breath. It is as if the party of life is over and they are just hanging around until the lift for the next world arrives.

Life is a party and we can choose to sit in the corner and give up or we can dare to be on the dance floor when the last record is played. It is all about our attitude to that life.

Many say, “What’s the point? What difference can anything I do now make to others or the world? I will be gone soon enough and everyone will carry on the party called life without me”.

But if you still have breath in your body there is something that only you are being asked to bring to the world. You might be here to bring peace into a family conflict. You might be here to tell another that they are of worth and that they matter. You might be here to be tender to a grandchild or hug another older man or woman. Each and every day, your acts of love or kindness are not like putting a drop of clean water into a polluted well. Each drop of clean water you can bring to another is instead more like putting a drop of antibiotic eye drops into another’s infected eyes, in order to help them regain clear vision. Random daily acts of kindness and love send ripples which we often cannot see.

You do still make a difference to all those still at the party of life. Maybe you have the gift of bringing fun and laughter. Maybe you are an encourager. Perhaps you can still paint or compose or sing a ditty.

Take a leaf out of a child’s attitude to life. They never say “What’s the point? I can make so little difference in my nappy and bib”. They savour and lap up every second as if it’s their last. Learn to do the same. Be like Colonel Tom.

How old do you feel inside?

Using a scale of 1 – 10 where i1 is ‘I’ve given up on life and waiting to die’ to 10 which is ‘I’m determined to be the last one on the dance floor,’ where are you? Why is that?

What is the main message that you walk away with from today’s reflection? What actions might you take to increase your score nearer to 10?