Imagine yourself at 75 years of age!

Pastor Carolyn Jenkins

If you are lucky, that day will come, perhaps sooner than you think.
(For those of you already 75, make it 85 or 95!)

You’ve heard that 60 is the new 40 when it comes to age, but that won’t hold up when explaining your miles per hour to the policemen on King Street. We say “age is just a number” - but some numbers affect us differently. Forty seems to be a magic number of realizing you are not in young adult status anymore. According to some, Fifty is Nifty…but only part of the time. Then Sixties: people my age brag that we have lived through the sixties more than once…as our age and as a decade of difficulty culturally.

So what do you want to be like at mid-seventies? Good health—yes. Retired—probably. Living independently? Traveling to great places ? Meeting your grandchildren in unhurried times? Living each day as if you were on vacation?

Here are some clues of what to do to be ready for that last quarter of life (yes, it is common to live to 90s and 100 these days)...

1. Eat well; sleep well; exercise well. Yep, nothing you didn’t already know. The knowing is not the problem. Begin the doing of those three things.
2. Connect with a community of faith and get involved. You can do more together than you can apart. And folks can help influence you in Godly ways. Get involved so you influence others, too.
3. Love your family well. Yeah, I know some families are a hot mess. If you can’t love your family of origin, collect a family of good, good friends around you. It may not be the same, but it is a good approximation. You need to care about people; you need people to care about you. So if single, make good connections. If married with children, make those connections as good as you can to help your kids grow in a healthy environment.
4. Find a way to help others. Adopt a child in Nicaragua in the village we partner with thru . It is a money investment, but not much time required. Or spend one morning a week teaching English to newcomers with For the Nations at FBCA. Or make a neighborhood more friendly by getting to know your neighbors and inviting them into your home.
5. Consider your money as a gift from God and use it that way. You will never regret learning to tithe (giving 10% of your income back to God). When you are 75, you will realize how much you have helped others you didn’t even know --in the name of Jesus.
6. Start today to be grateful. Even the roughest days will have a glimmer of hope hidden if you learn to find it. You have 10 fingers. Don’t go to sleep at night until you have thanked God for ten events or opportunities or scenes or objects or people.

Every stage of life has its good, bad and ugly parts. But you can prepare now for days to come! Your wisdom will increase daily; your relationship with God will grow; your ability to help others will expand; you will be instrumental in bringing the kingdom of God to earth. You already pray that in the prayer Jesus taught us to pray; so let’s start making it happen.  Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done!