Fretting over age

We are in Arizona and enjoying the time away from regular routines and schedules. Yes you do get into routines and schedules in retirement too. One of the people we get to see and visit in AZ is Joyce's nursing school roommate and longtime friend Shari. She said something about the importance of planning to live not planning to leave as we grow older. I liked that. Joyce and I both feel so blessed to have such an abundance of interests and things to do together. Neither of us is ready to leave the other and truth be known when we do get called to leave we would prefer going together. It is puzzling though that Jesus said there would be no marriage in heaven so how will Joyce and I relate there. I don't know but do trust that God's plan for heaven is perfect and right and will be grand.

I started reading the book by Jan Karon, Come Rain or Come Shine. Father Tim has been retired now for a few years. He has had an ongoing interest in quotes and when he stops by the library the librarian hands him this quote, "Men are worse than women in fretting over age." (Gabriel Garcia Marquez) Then he remembers the quote from James Thurber, "I've never known a woman who could weep about her age the way the men I know can." The story goes on following those quotes,
" Was the librarian aware that he had a birthday coming up? Did she somehow know he was fretting about it? Did he look his age or even older? He hoped her overtiure (of the quote) was coincidental. His seventies had certainly been a crossroads. (Anybody else out there identify with that? I certainly can say the same) He could choose to be old, he had the credentials, or he could choose to be ageless, whatever that meant."
So we have choices as to how we are going to age. I want to do so with realism and dignity. I am becoming okay with not being able to do what I used to do, well most of the time. Joyce recently pointed out a physical defect in my lower left calf. She said it was becoming smaller than my right one and might be atrophying. I had never noticed that before but upon inspection she is right. Now what I do about that I do not know. It concerns me some but not a lot. It could be connected to college athletic injuries as I have lost control of my left ankle and foot to a certain extent. So the connection to the aging process that surfaced in the reading.
Another character in the story talks about her love of reading and books. She says, "There were also books I didn't love at all but I read anyway, hoping to find something hidden and accidental that would change things." That's how I want to approach life being alert to that which is hidden, unexpected and spontaneous in the events of life which are meant from God to change and transform life. She talks about discovering Rilke the poet of the early 20th century. She quotes him, "Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is in its deepest essence something helpless that wants our love"
Is this something like Jesus telling us to view life from heaven's perspective, looking at life thorugh eyes of faith. When life does not go as we had hoped we need to seek Jesus' wisdom and guidance through Holy Spirit discerning whether to change the situation if we can or simply to accept it. And as Sarah Young says in her devotional book Jesus Always, "Either way you can still say, I rejoice in you, Lord Jesus." Our confidence is surely not in ourselves but in the Lord of Glory in whom all things are possible.. I cherish the biblical teaching that God's grace is sufficient for my every situation and need. Nothing can separate me from the love of God,

My dear family and friends, some of you are going through difficulty, trial and testing but do not doubt that you are precious to Almighty God and loved! Only you can claim the promises of God for you but be assured I am praying those promises for you.