For Aging Gracefully

I recently attended a conference on Aging and Spirituality where the speaker, Rev. Dr. Lorraine Leist from Montview Presbyterian, called aging a journey of transformation. As part of that day, she shared a blessing, “For Aging Gracefully”, written by Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie. The blessing touched me for all the ways it addressed both the difficulties and the wonder of aging. I wanted to share it with you.

“For Aging Gracefully”
Blessed are you who have reached a new age – even if it doesn’t seem to fit. It may feel too big. Too reductive. Too limiting. It may be marked by a life you barely recognize.
The kids who have all moved out or settled somewhere far away. The work that no longer sets the daily hum. The life partner who is gone and friends you’ve outlived. The body that doesn’t allow for the hobby you love anymore. The monthly check that doesn’t provide the flexibility you’d hoped for.

Wasn’t I young just a second ago? Will I ever recognize the person staring back in the mirror? What’s left to do that really counts? How do I know if I am, or ever was…enough?

Blessed are you who have lost so much. You whose body hurts, and you who aren’t who you used to be. You who no longer have the identity markers that once defined you so clearly. You who attend more funerals than weddings these days. You who hold your new grandbabies and have held your dying parents’ hands.

God, give us eyes to notice the ways life can still be beautiful and rich and full in the midst of so much that has been lost. Remind us that you are not done with us yet. For the God who spoke us into being calls us even now. Not to an ideal or a role, but to a moment. This one.
In a world that equates age with liability, it’s time for a reminder that you are a gift.

You give advice. You hold on to family recipes. You remember that thing that happened and, honestly, we shouldn’t have forgotten. You think our kids are beautiful and our bad partners should be soundly dumped. You kept the photo album. You hold our stories. Thank you.
Even when the world isn’t paying attention, may you get a glimmer of a reminder that these little things add up to something that is and always will be beautiful.

- By Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie


My wish for you is to find those beautiful moments to cherish.