Entries in this category probe deeper thoughts about old age. Spirituality, self-image, relationships, hopes and yearnings — all the stuff of self-talk and core meaning for people who are older.
(Today’s blog is the last in a series of four entries that treat a matter that most older adults eventually face: How will we live well when that becomes difficult?) When the necessary preliminary work is finished, what’s left is the task of finding life-care arrangements that fit our expectations and hopes. Some are intangible—the feel of a facility, personal characteristics of likelyMORE...
(Today’s blog is the third in a series of entries that treat a matter that most older adults eventually face: How will we live well when we can no longer take care of ourselves?) Once we’ve confronted our fears and worked at reframing our thinking, the next steps seem to be largely practical: Research the optimum facilities and choose the best options. There might be an intermediate step, though:MORE...
Today’s blog is the second of a series of four entries that treat a matter that most older adults eventually face: How will we live well when that becomes more difficult or impossible?) It might help us to welcome future living arrangements if we started to reframe our ways of thinking—maybe with other folks helping us. See how these examples might fit you…. Move from loss of control toMORE...
(Today’s blog is the first of a series of four entries that treat a matter that most older adults eventually face: How will we live well when that becomes difficult?) Presently, Chris and I take care of ourselves, our capabilities not yet severely diminished. I think we’re ready for what comes next. We’ve followed the guidance of counselors, physicians, financial advisors and friends, putting inMORE...
When it comes to popular media’s metaphors for the turning of a year, I am presented with two familiar choices: An old man and a baby greeting January 1st together, or the ancient Roman god Janus, looking both ways. Neither symbolic representation quite matches what tugs at my spirit. The old man—Father Time?—and the unnamed baby/infant raise a critical question: Who will pass on the wisdomMORE...
2023 has zipped by quickly. This annum may go down in long-view history as out-of-place in the parade of venerable years. but I don’t see much value in marking any year of my life as undesirable or regrettable. For its duration, this year has been part of God’s gift of life. God has been active, perhaps in ways I don’t yet see. I’ve lived within the confines of this year’s seasons, and haveMORE...
In his beloved hymn, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, the 19th century pastor and hymnwriter Edmund Sears wrote that the angels sang “o’er the Babel sounds.” That short phrase strikes me as a hopeful note within the tumult of current news events and trends. (Wars, loudly ranting politicians, relentless climate change and AI’s rampaging all come to mind.) What Sears recalled was an angelic lateMORE...
Earlier in life, I took heart from the Magnificat’s message (Luke 2:46-55). Perhaps God could use me to feed hungry people, cast down the mighty from their seats, show mercy to those who were poor and put humble people in places of power! That felt like a righteous, even prophetic ministry. I also missed something along the way. I had overlooked another side of Mary’s borrowed and revised songMORE...
My preference for celebrating the Birth of Jesus is to seek quiet moments to contemplate the mystery of God’s redeeming love for me. To remember all the beautiful Christmas carols and hymns that echo that kind of feeling. Noise bothers me—life is filled with too much of it—so Christmas can offer a respite from that irksome aspect of life today. But then I remember how, in the middle of shepherds’MORE...
Advent weather in the Northern hemisphere—darkness, cold, mixed precipitation, etc .—invites me into cozy caves of theological thought that I trust will eventually emerge as something useful. Today, two musings scrawled on the walls of this temporary hiding place: Hope and creativity, and End Times hope…. Chris and I are part of a congregation where creativity— demonstrated by pastors, staffMORE...
BOB SITZE has filled the many years of his lifework in diverse settings around the United States. His calling has included careers as a teacher/principal, church musician, writer/author, denominational executive staff member and meat worker. Bob lives in Wheaton, IL.