My granddaughter, Rachel, “interviewed” me for a college class assignment on aging. However, I modified her questions for this blog from that of a 20-year-old’s viewpoint for a class assignment to a perspective on long life experienced.
My goal is to have each of you answer the questions that I was asked so that you can reflect back and recognize how all our choices shape who we become as we age.
Question 1 and 2 pertain to the physical body.
Question 1. “What did you do to maintain your health and support your well-being as you aged?”
Answer: “As a teen, my friends and I regularly stopped at Porky’s Drive-in for burgers, fries and a malt. I, like most teens, did not consider the long term effects of eating burgers, fries and malts.”
Question 2: “What are ways you have noticed your body changed as you aged?”
Answer: “As a married adult with three daughters, I noticed I was beginning to lose muscle tone – especially in my tummy.”
Question 3 and 4 have to do with the emotional aspect of aging.
Question 3: “Did you notice changes in your emotions as you aged?”
Answer: “Once I had children, I developed a fear of dying and leaving my young daughters without a mother and my husband without a wife, and this plagued me for many years.”
Question 4: “How did you handle your changing emotions?”
Answer: “I tried to stay positive and optimistic for my family’s sake, but many times I lost the battle in my own resolve to do so.”
Question 5 and 6 relate to relationships.
Question 5: “Do friendships and relationships look different as you aged?”
Answer: “Friendships became more meaningful, and our topics of conversation have changed from talking about cute boys as a teen to talking about our families.”
Question 6: “How did you maintain friendships along the journey of aging?”
Answer: “Most of Burt’s friends and most of my friends all married around the same time so we got together with our kids and did family things.”
Question 7 considers the legal aspects of aging.
Question 7: “Have you made out your will, and how did family relationships affect your decisions?”
Answer: Yes, we have a will. At first, we planned to divvy up our assets by percentages. A certain percentage would go to daughters, a certain percentage to grandchildren, and a certain percentage to charity. But that got too complicated. So after Burt and René passed away, I revised my will to a much simpler version.”
Question 8 and 9 have to do with spiritual things.
Question 8: “What was your greatest decision that affected your outlook on aging?”
Answer: “My greatest decision was to believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.”
Question 9: “How did you come to your decision?”
Answer: “My friend told me about her personal relationship with Jesus and the benefits of receiving Him as Lord and Savior, such as joy and eternal life. I became a believer. That changed my fear of dying and all my cautions into confidence of who I am in Christ.”
Question 10: “Looking back, was your decision a good choice or a wrong choice?”
Answer: “Definitely the best decision.”
Rachel’s final question: “What advice would you give to somebody who is entering the life season of aging?”
My answer: “Look at life as God’s gift and enjoy it as a child of God teaching your children in the ways of the Lord.”
Rachel’s college class assignment was a trigger for me to look back and examine my journey of aging – the choices and decisions that God used to lead me to become a believer in Jesus.
Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to examine your own heart. Ask God to “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23-24) Maybe you will see, as I did, how God uses every span of years, and every choice made to draw us to Himself. 2 Corinthians 5:17says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.”
That was then; this is now!