Part 1: Learning to Cope With Being OLD

 

Thanks for sharing this journey into aging. Let's begin by saying, "Old and age are not four-letter words." (Repeat that four times.)

 

If anything in this post makes you smile, excellent! (Yes, one corner-up counts.) Notice that people who reach very old age often laugh lot. That’s the Preface in adjusting to the idea of being elderly, but there’s more to learn. Much more….

Prepare to Be Slow

If you’re used to moving along at a clip or turning sharply on the proverbial dime, stop! Your typical adult-life pace will eventually topple you over or blow a spinal disc or throw your knees out or all of the above.

Expect to Be Clumsy, well, sometimes

Get a thermos-like bottle with a fold-up-and-down thingy to sip through. Take this with you wherever you go, even if you think you’re sitting safely, watching TV with a snack. Otherwise, when you grab the remote to change that terrible show you never meant to watch, the chances of knocking over a drink increase with each year-alive. If you’re super tired, careless, or a natural klutz, those odds double. No judgment, just an observation (or expectation.)

 

Curb Your Pride and Buy a Cane if You’re Apt to Be Tipsy (unless you had too much to drink, and then it won’t hold you up but might tempt you to whack somebody.)

If you’re having balance issues, get a cane with four-toes for steadiness. If yours didn’t come with that feature, measure the cane's diameter and order one online. Better yet, buy a more sure-footed cane in your favorite color.

 

Find a Hobby You Enjoy that Requires Movement

No, playing Bridge to exercise your wrists doesn’t count. Remember, all activities aren’t rivalries. But don’t be surprised if someone older than you beats you at pickle-ball.

 

If You Need Help, Ask

Face it. Getting old is no time to be full of yourself. Pride, at this stage, is even more likely to go before a fall. If you’ve always been the person who likes to help others, move over! Give someone else a chance to feel good about helping.

 

Expect Sleep Patterns to Change

Besides getting up a dozen times a night to head to the head, you might find worries, schedules, or memories flooding in, right when you wanted to forget everything and go to sleep. (As an expert on the subject, I’m writing this at 5 a.m. after an hour or two of naps.) Pain often keeps us awake too. And so does too much stimulation too late, so end your evening with something boring.

 

Stop Saving Pretty Much Anything for a Special Occasion

Being God’s child is special, and so is being alive! If you have something nice, enjoy it. Use that sterling silver flatware you're prepared to polish. Wear that pricey silk tie you bought on a whim. Toss your grandmother’s hand-embroidered cloth over the table and don’t serve anything that stains.

 

Scale Down

Ask your kids, grands, and other relatives (in that order) if there’s something of yours they would enjoy having. Otherwise, if you don’t need it, don’t use it, or don’t like it, give it away.  In our one-stoplight town, three churches have secondhand shops with other charitable organizations close enough to haul stuff. 

 

Take Care of Your Eyes

Aging eyes often need cataract surgery, which is not a big deal for most people (unless you’re a big crybaby) but shouldn’t be done too soon or too late. i.e., Too soon increases the likelihood of having to do it again. Too late creates a gummy-bear film. Just right can usually be determined if you glance at a light and see a blue ring – not to be confused with the blue light special.

 

Take Care of All Body Parts, Seen or Unseen

Keep up checkups with your dentist, doctor, and shoe salesperson. Yes, feet do change sizes, especially if your weight goes up or down. If you feel like Big-Foot and someone dares to ask your size, simply lie if you still care more about what other people think than who you or they truly are.

 

Care More and More What God Thinks

Read the Bible in several translations. (No, King James will not be mad, but I don’t know about Shakespeare.) Follow online devotionals. Buy devotional books to read every morning or evening or both. Keep instrumental Christian hymns playing throughout the day. (I found many on You-Tube. My favorites include the lyrics, so I can sing along without resorting to La-La-La.)

 

Pray 

Pray for your family. Pray for your church and all of God’s people around the world. (Okay. Be inclusive. Pray for anyone and everyone you really, really, really do not like.) 

Speak God’s promises over the news. Pray for leaders everywhere. Pray WITH people who need immediate prayer even if they happen to be in the next stall of a public restroom. 

Pray for yourself. Pray, pray, pray for God to guide and strengthen you. Pray to see God’s view and express your forever joy in Jesus’ Name.

 

Mary Sayler

P.S. Part 2 might look more serious. Regardless, if you have a tip to share or question to ask, please do in the Comment below. Thanks and blessings.

 

 

Unexpected Joy

 

As Christian poets and writers, we have an endless source of ideas in our Judeo-Christian Bibles (aka OT and NT.) We’ve also encountered hard times and heard about those difficulties that happened to friends, family, or the day’s headlines. With God’s guidance, connecting those experiences with appropriate scripture can help our readers to know they’re not alone, and, more important, have the Lord on their side. The Psalms offer many examples of this, so let’s look some other numerous examples in the Bible:

 

In Lamentations 3, the prophet Jeremiah wrote about his misery. Here’s how the King James Version of the Bible presents those times:

1. I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of His wrath.

2. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.

3. Surely against me is He turned; He turneth His hand against me all the day.

4. My flesh and my skin hath He made old; He hath broken my bones.

5. He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.

6. He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old.

7. He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: He hath made my chain heavy.

8. Also when I cry and shout, He shutteth out my prayer.

9. He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, He hath made my paths crooked.

10. He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places.

11. He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: He hath made me desolate.

12. He hath bent His bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.

13. He hath caused the arrows of His quiver to enter into my reins.

14. I was a derision to all my people; and their song all the day.

15. He hath filled me with bitterness, He hath made me drunken with wormwood.

16. He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, He hath covered me with ashes.

17. And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity.

18. And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD:

That’s a lot of trials and tribulations!

At times, many of us have wondered if our prayers were being heard. I have, and after the deaths of close friends and family members, I’ve felt terribly sad and lonely. I suspect you, too, can identify with some of Jeremiah’s difficulties.

Occasionally known as the “weeping prophet,” Jeremiah lived over 500 years before Christ, and yet his faith in God sets a good example for us to end laments today in our contemporary writings.

 

Jeremiah's Hope

 

19. Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.

20. My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.

21. This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.

22. It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.

23. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.24. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in Him.

 

For other examples, fast forward to the New Testament: Everyone who was acquainted with Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, surely knew how much she wanted a child, but many, many years went by, and nothing happened. Her family likely shared her sorrow, but when they heard of the birth of John, all that immediately changed.

 

“Elizabeth’s neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown very great mercy, and they shared her joy,” Luke 1:58.

 

After the crucifixion and burial of Jesus, His disciples and other followers suffered profound grief, confusion, and disappointment. Then early Sunday morning, the women who had stayed by Him, went to the graveside, only to discover the tomb open and an Angel of the Lord in brilliant white clothing sitting on the huge stone.

 

“So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell Jesus’ disciples,” Matthew 28:8.

 

That Bible passage illustrates the ultimate joy through Jesus’ resurrection, but that joyful delight came after the saddest day ever experienced – even for God the Father.

With the Lord in our lives, our writings in every genre can express the joy of the Lord. Readers can relate and take hope as they learn of difficult times and see how God brought unexpected joy and good as only He can.

 

Mary Sayler

 

 

 

 

 

Let’s Hear It For John 3:17!

 

Church-goer or not, anyone who’s watched football on TV or been to a game has surely heard of John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes on Him will have everlasting life.” That’s a promise –the most vital one the Lord gives, assuring us of His plan for our salvation.

Unfortunately, many people do not believe they’re worthy of such a hope. Or they think Christ came, but not for them. And that’s where John 3:17 comes in. As the verse says: “For Christ did not come into the world to condemn the world, but that, through Him, the world might be saved.”

What constitutes the world? The earth and the physical beings who dwell here. That means people. And, “people” includes every human being, every person, me, and, of course, you.

The guarantee of John 3:17 has nothing to do with how good we are or how depraved! Whether we’re little-goody-two-shoes or people too ashamed to hold up our heads, God’s will is for all to be saved – for all to spend eternity in the presence of His endless love.

So, how do we get there? Jesus Himself answered that question. When people asked, He replied: “This is the work of God, to believe in The One He has sent,” John 6:29.

For Christ didn’t come into the world to sentence us and jail us in hell! The Lord wants our faith in Him to enable us to receive the forgiveness, saving grace, and eternal love He offers to all who believe.

 

© 2025, Mary Sayler

God, me, and overhanging trees

Living on a fixed income means keeping down expenses and praying for God to provide, especially when something untimely – like a hurricane – happens. In Florida, such a storm caused an unexpected surge in my homeowner’s insurance, even though I hadn’t needed to make a claim.

After many emails, a few phone calls, and a couple of changes in coverage and companies, I lowered my insurance bill considerably. Two months later, however, the new company advised me that the branches hanging over my roof had to be cut back in thirty days or the policy would be cancelled.

Actually, I’d been concerned about those ancient branches but figured I couldn’t afford to have them removed. With no choice now, I started looking for a professional tree service but couldn’t decide who to call. I needed a recommendation. And I prayed for the Lord to provide someone I could trust.

Since I had a lunch engagement, I went. Coming out of the restaurant I saw a half-dozen county workers in yellow slickers, so I walked up to them and asked, “Do you know someone reasonable and reliable I can call to cut back several tree branches?” They pointed to the guy in civies standing right behind them.

As God-incidence would have it, the man owned a tree service!

We agreed on a time the next day for an estimate, but rain forecasts caused us to reschedule for the following morning. And then he didn’t come. Or call. I even left a couple of phone messages but didn’t hear back.

I was so very sure God had arranged for this help that I decided to wait until Monday to call someone else. But who? After Sunday worship, I asked my church family if they could recommend a reputable and affordable tree service. A friend pointed to a card on the bulletin board and said, “They’re the ones who did work for the church.”

Monday morning, I called, and the owner of the company said he could come right then. He did. And his estimate was less than I expected, even though he agreed to do more. He even accepted credit cards! And he promised to come the next day.

We chatted a bit, and he said, “You might be wondering why a professional service would be available this quickly.” Well, yeah. Then he told me how, for a couple of weeks, a glitch in his phone had hindered calls. Sometimes the phone worked; sometimes it didn’t, so he finally went to buy a new one, but keeping his old number. He was coming out of the phone store when I called – the first call on his new phone.

Perfect timing! But as you know….

Things don’t get perfectly timed unless God orchestrates the circumstances.

And I would not have made that call when I did if I hadn’t waited until Monday to find another tree service.

And I wouldn’t have waited if I hadn’t believed God provided that first possibility, which He obviously did.

The Voice Bible translates Romans 8:28 like this, "We are confident that God is able to orchestrate everything to work toward something good and beautiful when we love Him and accept His invitation to live according to His plan." 

Even tree branches aren't out of His jurisdiction to orchestrate - anything, anywhere.

Amen.

 

©2025, Mary Sayler