In this category are Full of Years blogs that examine how time fills the lives of older persons. Time as a gift and time as a responsibility. Implicit in all entries: This is a good time to be living fully.
The longer I live, the more memories I have stored up. This truism about older adulthood comes with a slight twist: It might become harder for me to dwell on any single memory. Each recollection —rich in its depth and satisfaction—can compete with the others for my attention, time and energy. There are good reasons to hold on to a specific memory for more than a few seconds. Any of myMORE...
Today’s entry is part of an occasional set of observations about changes in the world’s climate that will affect all of us, old and young alike. The series bends toward a key question: As God’s people, how should we respond? Today’s entry: Dealing with our emotions. All decisions start with emotions. That’s one way to characterize how neurobiologists think about changing our behaviors. (RationalMORE...
As long ago as my high school years, I’ve been told that I had strong hands. Because I played the piano and organ back then, I always thought of this as a compliment. My own appraisal: They were old hands—long, skinny, bony, wrinkled and ridged with bulging blood vessels, tendons and musculature. Oddly enough, some folks thought of my hands as one of my strange charms. (When you’re balding, youMORE...
In our basement there’s a closet that holds the really old stuff of our lives. Some of it’s necessary—income tax forms for the past ten years—but much of it is just old: My collection of organ and piano music—a relic of the time in my life when that was my passionate capability. Photos from my parents’ early days. Home decorations from Chris and my first apartments. Our college-eraMORE...
Recently, the wistful tune and lyrics of Paul Simon’s “Old Friends” replayed themselves in my head, and brought me to where they always take me: Considering the old friends with whom I’ve shared a “park bench, like bookends…..” Wistful nostalgia seasoned with deep gratitude and dusted with joy. As happens every time I recall this tune, I found myself in a long-lasting reverie about all theMORE...
Today’s entry is part of an occasional set of observations about changes in the world’s climate that will affect all of us, old and young alike. The series bends toward a key question: As God’s people, how should we respond? Today’s entry: Taking action, even though it may be difficult. As I’ve noted in previous Climate Conversations, the scientific evidence regarding global warming makes it moreMORE...
One of the special privileges of older adult years is visiting folks in the hospital. Like funerals or memorial services, these visits can be exquisite times of spiritual depth—occurring at just the right “god-moment”—that might be hard to capture in words. Let me tell you about a recent hospital visit that might match similar experiences in your life. Perhaps these thoughts might help youMORE...
Recently it occurred to me that I usually hear the elders I visit called only by their first names. That got me to wondering whether these good people ever heard the sweet and loving names that they remember from their earlier years. Terms of endearment that their parents, lovers, partners, friends or children used to address them. The private names that carry relationships into close, enduringMORE...
Those of us who are older bring to this season strong memories of Christmas Past—for most of us nothing to be afraid of…. The nostalgia that Christmas brings might be an especially fruitful place to visit alongside older friends and relatives. “How did you used to celebrate Christmas?” can call forth a wonderful array of customs and activities, each wrapped in fascinating stories that drawMORE...
One of Advent’s most haunting texts is the one about “A voice crying in the wilderness, ‘Prepare ye the way of the Lord!’” This quiet passage (Isaiah 40:3) has always tugged at my soul because I’ve imagined some person out there in the middle of nowhere—wildernesses are tough places to live—yelling out loud about something important. In the outback places of life—any wilderness is out thereMORE...
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.