Once you face the reality that you have only a limited number of years left here on earth, and because of age your energy has lessened, how does that affect your understanding of vocation. While that question is real for me at 71, I would encourage you, even if you are in your middle ages, to consider that question as a way of clarifying what is important to you. I’m still healthy now, even if with less energy and physical ability than I once had, but I do not know how long that will last. Truthfully, no matter what age you are, you don’t know what the future hold either.
From a family perspective, I want to make some decisions about where I will live even if I have a serious health decline, so I am choosing the Westminster Shores for my next move. I don’t want my children or my spouse to have to make that decision because of some dramatic change in my health. . In the same vein, I want a clear will, power of health attorney, Desire for a natural death, organ donor card, etc. That is my gift to them. It is also consistent with my understanding of my call in relation to my “domestic church” or family .
I feel a sense of call to create some good materials for the care of clergy, so I am going to begin to review the past six years of blogs and put together some of the best of those ideas. Then I will consider whether I self-publish a book or do something for Alban Institute, etc. I also want to publish my novel because I think it will be both entertaining and helpful to some clergy.
I want to develop a new discipline for spirituality fit for a person who is aging. This will help me prepare for this phase of my life and maybe be helpful to others as well. This may include preparation for facing my death but it also will include meditating on God’s call for a person as they experience some of the characteristics of aging.
Well, that is a start. I will continue tomorrow.
