THE BEST IS YET TO BE

 

Hampton Park, Charleston, SC in early spring

Like all human beings, and really all living things, my life has been a progression of phases from childhood, teenage years, young married life, raising my sons as a single mother, professional career heading up various nonprofit agencies, and retirement in the SC Lowcountry.   

What's happening now is the most gentle, loving, hopeful, joyful, and beautiful phase of them all.

OLD AGE.  

Don't laugh.  

You see I've learned how to live with my physical limitations and infirmities.  I'm happy for those who can skate and bike, walk long distances, and dance with nimble feet,  but those former pleasures are long gone for me.  These days I'm happy to sit in the sun and watch others who are at the apex of their physical powers.  

I'm content with the slower pace of life.  

There is time now to enjoy lingering walks during which I sit as much as I walk and pause as much as I like to gaze at the beauty before me.  There is time to enjoy Presence, both in my apartment and when I am outside in nature.  Now that I'm not so active, it is easier to be fully in this moment, enjoying the delicate beauty of this flower or that cloud.  This is intensely satisfying to my soul. 

Everywhere I go I feel compassion for the people I meet.  I know how hard and what a struggle life can be.  When I see someone who looks sad, my heart goes out to them and I lift a prayer.  If it's possible, I speak and offer a smile and a kind word.   

When I go to a park (which is often), I sometimes encounter a homeless person or two sitting or lying among the ancient oaks, trees that remind me what giving looks like over a span of 400 or 500 years.  True giving is effortless and flows from our very being.  All living things are all a part of a beautiful tapestry of aliveness.  We're dependent on and need each other.  

The animals I encounter are a special delight, especially the dogs running on the beach with their humans.  How joyful they are!  How completely themselves!  What a big smile it brings me to see them running with abandon toward the lapping waves and sometimes diving into the water!  They bring so much gladness and spontaneity to the whole environment they inhabit.  l want to be like them.  

Oh, how I thrill to the singing of the birds as I stroll in the woods or in the park!   Is there any sound more sublime?  They fill our world with joy and gladness as they scamper from branch to branch or spread their delicate wings in flight.  I want to be like them.  

God has blessed me to live in the historic district of Charleston, South Carolina, surely one of the most  beautiful cities in America.  Living here is a dream come true for me.  I still stand in amazement as I look out my window on the eighth floor and gaze at sailboats gliding down Charleston Harbor or watch hawks and eagles rest in the high perches of one of the gleaming white bell-towers rising from the historic churches right down the street. 

The Atlantic Ocean is close by so I enjoy going to the beach often to enjoy the sunrise there, followed by a sit of meditation,  thirty minutes or so of QiGong movements, and walk along the lapping waves with my toes in the briny water.  Sometimes I might even go to the beach again in late afternoon to enjoy the sunset and to watch darkness claim the sky as the stars and planets become visible in the inky dark dome.  

Yes, this is the best time of my life.  

My sons are close by so they can come visit.  How I love being with them!  It is a gift to get to know them as middle-aged men with wives and children and busy lives.  And they are getting acquainted with their "super mom" (what they used to call me) as an old woman.   

Pure gift.  Amazing grace.  

Everything changes, the days, seasons, our lives.  Nothing, absolutely nothing, remains the same from one day to the next.  Can we enjoy each moment?  It is precious and can never be recaptured.  

Old age for me is acceptance of what has been and embracing what is.  Everything works together for good.  

This moment is beautiful and will never come again.  I embrace it with joy and gratitude.

Based on the past, I know that life can be filled with the unexpected, with sickness, with tragedy.  This past year as we've all lived through the COVID-19 pandemic is a good example.  Yet, there is within me the sure knowledge that the best is yet to be.  

That's right.  The best is yet to be!

There will come a day when each one of us releases our physical body.  When that time comes, we will be prepared to let go and let God.  Old age teaches us and shows us the way.  There is nothing to fear.  

Rejoice and be glad.  Embrace this moment, whatever is happening.  THE BEST IS YET TO BE.