"They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green"  

Psalm 92:14

The Sunset Years...

Greetings Friends,

     As I write this I'm looking at a beautiful sunset over the lake.  Some of the most beautiful views on Lake Santa Fe come at the end of the day.  The water calms, the temperature dips and the sun sets in a blaze of color.  God sure knows how to finish the day!

     God wants us to finish strong too.  Not just every day, but every season of our lives and especially the last season.  Studying theology has helped me see the flaws in our culture's narrative of life.  Our society is built on the idea that we are supposed to work a certain number of years, save our money, retire and either rest or finally do something we love.  God's Word says we will flourish in our latter years:

"The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,
they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
planted in the house of the Lord,
they will flourish in the courts of our God.
They will still bear fruit in old age,
they will stay fresh and green,
proclaiming, “The Lord is upright;
he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”
Psalm 92:12-15

     Are you flourishing?  When we are focused on our calling and living out our vocation, every season of our journey is purposeful and our lives will flourish.  We will leave a lasting legacy for God's glory.  You may think a legacy is something only the rich and famous leave, but as God's children we all leave legacies for God's glory.   Have you thought about the legacies you're leaving?

     Last summer, I enrolled in a seminary course that really helped me process my life from a new lens.  The course was called "Focused Lives" and the purpose was to find focus in every season and to embrace and work with what God is doing in and through you.  I sure wish I had this information in my 20's, when I was confused about my calling; or in my 30's when career was everything to me; or in my 40's when I had children and didn't realize how sacred the work of raising a family is; and especially during the seasons when everything seemed overwhelming and I needed a break.  

    As God's timing would have it, I entered the course in one of those seasons when I needed a break.  I had stepped back from my pastoral ministry to concentrate on my family and finish my education.  It's not the first time I've stepped back from something I love in order to refocus and re-balance my life.  I always battle guilt over these seasons because our culture pressures us to work harder and do more, not less.  The voices of condemnation are always there to criticize our life decisions.  In this course, we studied many people who had lives of influence to see how God worked through them.  I noticed how often God called them to step back, re-prioritize and take an extended rest.  God uses these periods to shift seasons, pull weeds and grow deeper roots in us.  If you're in that season, you can trust God is working.  Our destiny unfolds on God's timetable.

     These people of influence lived extraordinary lives that left a lasting impact on others.  They were particularly fruitful in the third third of their lives.  This refers to the last third portion of life, age 60 and up.  Since I'm on the brink of my own third third (I'll be 59 in December), I was intrigued to learn more.  One commonality among these people is that they led through being not doing. 

Self-sufficiency is the enemy to calling...

    Rest helps us find our identity in being rather than striving.  As God's children we are not defined by what we do but who we are in Christ.  When we lead through being, we prepare for the third third season in the right frame of mind.  

"Discovering vocation does not mean scrambling toward some prize just beyond my reach but accepting the treasure of true self I already possess.  Vocation does not come from a voice “out there” calling me to become something I am not.  It comes from a voice “in here” calling me to be the person I was born to be, to fulfill the original selfhood given me at birth by God.”  

                         Parker Palmer, Author “Let Your Life Speak.”

      Vocation is our call to serve God in the world, and whether or not we get paid for our work has nothing to do with it.  When we focus on vocation rather than career, then retirement is not an end of our work identity.  In his popular book "Let your Life Speak," Parker Palmer suggests “our true selves, when violated, will always resist us, sometimes at great cost, holding our lives in check until we honor its truth.”  To honor truth, we must identify and renounce the mistruths our culture tells us about our value and purpose as we age, especially when our bodies and minds show signs of age.

     One of the most intriguing questions in the Focused Lives course came from the book "Calling All Years Good" by Kathleen Cahalan and Bonnie J. Miller- McLemore.  The authors ask:  "do older persons with dementia have a calling?  Or newborns?"  As the mother of a child with an intellectual disability, these are questions I've often pondered.  What is our purpose and calling when we are able to contribute little or nothing to society?  Here is my answer:   

Instead of focusing solely on my contributions, I consider calling and vocation and legacies from the perspective of how well I love, trust, respect, accept and depend on one another as the body of Christ, with emphasis on the weaker being the most necessary parts...

                                                                          Artwork by Marianna's Ministry

"The Spirit can send forth new gifts at any time in a person's life.  Thus it is not too late for God to grace a person with new gifts."  

Kathleen A. Cahalan and Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore

"Calling All Years Good."

     For our third third season to be fruitful, we must look past our limitations.  Not just the physical or intellectual ones, but the ones our culture imposes upon us.  Our abilities or lack of abilities do not define us.  When we die to ourselves (our ideas of what is productive, fruitful, meaningful), God raises us to new life (resurrection power).  

     God works through our lives in many ways to leave legacies.  Our culture looks at numbers and other visible signs as a measure of success, but Susanna Wesley, the mother of John Wesley (founder of Methodism) reminds me that the things we think have the most impact in life are not necessarily the only ways we leave legacies.

“Susanna Wesley never preached a single sermon.  She never published a book or founded a church or led a mission.  In fact, we would not know Susanna Wesley today if it were not for her two most famous sons, John and Charles.  Why then, you might ask, should she be considered a heroine of the Christian faith?”      

  Michelle DeRusha, Author, “50 Women Every Christian Should Know.”

    Modeling a life of surrender and obedience before others leaves a legacy that I may not ever be aware of.  This is the legacy I most hope to leave.  What about you?

     I will be speaking more about ableism at the Wonderfully Made Disability Conference in Kansas this fall, and the message will be available online.  My message, titled "Made in God's Image" will address how we might find disability in the image of our perfect God.  Scripture promises we will bear fruit in old age, and we will!  We must open our eyes to the many varieties of fruit God has for us to bear, and remember to abide (focus on being).

    Whatever stage of life we are in, we will be most effective when we embrace these truths.  Stay committed and trust God will help you finish strong!  I've created a special mug from Marianna's Ministry to commemorate this message which is available at the link below.  Also, I've attached a reading list of the books I mentioned for those who want to learn more.

Blessings,

Myra

 New from Marianna's Ministry of Art

      Wonderfully Made Disability Conference 2022                                   

October 19-21, 2022 

Online and In-Person in Lenexa, Kansa

Registration Opens July 1st 

Register to hear Myra's VIP Talk!

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