Health And Hope

Get rid of stuff! Many homes of older people are filled with the accumulations of things that cannot be thrown out as they may come in useful but that have not seen the light of day in many years. To stay young, have a clear out and let the 'day light' in. Know what you have got and what you want to keep. Collecting screw top glass jars, although you know they might be useful, can become an obsession if you do not know what you want them for. Maybe you have things like this too?

Keep your mind active. One lady wrote to us to say that she enjoys creative writing, and letter writing and this activity means that she can reach out to a few who need a helping hand. Others have taken up simple photography and this has given them the opportunity to look more closely at their house plants or their animals. You could choose a subject of interest to study.

Set your house in order. Make the will you have been intending to do. Then sort out all your papers and file them neatly. Doing this will not shorten your life, but could make things so much easier when needed.

Plan for the next 20 years! A lady of 97 had just bought and learned how to use a microwave. She always bought an article of clothing in this year’s new colour, and she once said that she was going to fly to the USA next summer because, if she waited too much longer, the world’s oil would run out. A man of 93 years young, with a zimmer frame redesigned his garden and with the help of a local handyman, planted a new hedge from very small plants, and put in new saplings, with the vision of a shady seat. There was not a suggestion in his mind that he might not see his new garden come to maturity. Keep scheming.

Do not waste energy with damagingly strong emotions. We have only have one bank account of nervous energy. If you feel angry or frustrated or disappointed, is it worth becoming agitated? To do this is actually exhausting. It is better to turn away and think that there will always be another day. Strong emotions rarely change anything, and do not actually get back at the other person as we intend. They just tire us out and leave us empty.

Trust in God! He gave you your lifespan. What have you done with it? It may be that you have disappointments, regrets, lost opportunities—but we all do. You can choose, even as you read this, to make today count for something, to carry out a promise you made and never kept, to put a guilty secret right with God and leave it behind, to see today as the opportunity, not what you lost 50 years ago.

• I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken.
• Even to your old age I am He; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you; I have made and I will bear, even I will carry and deliver you.
• The hoary head is a crown of glory if it be found in the way of righteousness
• He knoweth our frame, He remembereth that we are dust.

Are you over the hill - or have you chosen still to keep climbing?