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The Art of Growing Old, A Guide to
Faithful Aging This book is a guide to finding increased satisfaction in our lives. Carroll Saussy draws on her many years of teaching nursing students, counseling,, and on conversations with many friends and relations in this innovative exploration of the art of aging. She cares deeply about people of all ages. Her passion is to help people in some very practical ways. Saussy invites us to be introspective about our lives. She writes in
a basic, simple way about the issues of life cycle, loss, looking
backward and forward and affirming the present. The essence of the book
is her encouragement for us to take a candid look at ourselves. Eac Saussy invites the reader to think, meditate, share and write about our lives. This is no philosophical treatise on the aging process. There are questions for personal reflection, a meditation, and more questions for reflection. This is not a book to be skimmed or rushed through, but to be savored either as an individual or with a partner or even a small group of searchers. We are encouraged to take it slowly, to make it part of our lives and to grow in our faith and in our understanding of what we are experiencing. For example, in the chapter on "looking back" we are asked to recall an experience we would like to understand better. Saussy directs us to describe the experience in some detail, to say who was involved, to consider the impact on us at that time, to identify the influence in our present life. In the meditation we are asked to try to reconstruct the scene of an experience that we felt especially good about. Who was there, what expression was on their faces. We are to look at ourself, describe how we look. We are to get the feel of the day. Finally we are to speak as if we were at that time, and to listen as others respond. "Wow," I thought; could be powerful and moving if only I could remember. Some will be good at remembering I am confident. If I stayed with such an exercise, perhaps images would return. Saussy reminds us if we have doubts about this exercise that God is there to comfort us. He says to us: Do not be afraid for I am with you. Your past is my past, you are mine Such is Saussy’s approach. Toward the end of the book she quotes the psalmist My heart is glad and my soul rejoices… In your presence there is fullness of joy. That is her hope for us as we cultivate the art of growing old. Pick up the book, carve out some quiet time, relax, be with a close friend and let this book engage your spirit. You will be glad you did.
To be told: know your story,
shape your future, We all know great story tellers;
some of us may be story tellers ourselves. Dan Allender believes
that we can make sense of our lives as we discover the role God is
giving us in His story as it is revealed in our life. He seeks to help
us discover our stories, the story God has written with us. Allender is
the president of Mars Hill Graduate School near Seattle, Washington. He
is a professor of counseling, a therapist in private practice, and a
frequent Each of us is a story; it is a story written by God. We are encouraged to look for the theme in our story. For Allender the theme is "My story reveals a surprising and unpredictable God who transforms shame through foolishness, violence through kindness, and arrogance through weakness." Powerful stuff. The theme shapes our mission and for Allender that mission is to "train truthtellers to embrace stories that transform the way we relate to others." The book is intensely personal—Allender tells his own story, tells about his relationships with others, about his leadership in his church. It is not a scholarly treatise, rather a breezy, accessible conversation. We are invited to join in. Allender tells us how to unearth our stories and then helps us to find how those stories lead to our present and our future stories. What story is God writing with us now and what does He have in mind for us in the years ahead? Do we accept our current situation? Do we take responsibility for the world that has been given and created by us? Do we bring our stories and mission to bear on our present? We are encouraged to share our stories with others, to welcome their comments, to revise our stories as seems right. We find who we are when we struggle with tragedies, small and large. Tragedies transform us he argues, and we are to let God lead us as we deal with them. Allender tells us as we listen to our life we will hear words that describe our way of being, relating, engaging others. These words will help us identify our character and our role in life. What do the themes of our life reveal about God? Prayer helps reveal the stories that remain hidden. "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the paths of everlasting life." We are apt to wrestle with God and in so doing will be transformed. We are invited to go deeply within ourselves to find how God has been at work, what He has in mind for us now and what plans He has for us in the days ahead. If going on such a journey excites you, take a look at this book. It could change your life.
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chapter has suggestions about how we can do that.
speaker and seminar leader.