Henri Nouwen Society - Daily Meditation
Friday November 22, 2013 

 

The Challenge of Aging

 

Waiting patiently in expectation does not necessarily get easier as we become older.  On the contrary, as we grow in age we are tempted to settle down in a routine way of living and say:  "Well, I have seen it all. ... There is nothing new under the sun. ... I am just going to take it easy and take the days as they come."  But in this way our lives lose their creative tension.  We no longer expect something really new to happen.  We become cynical or self-satisfied or simply bored.   

 

The challenge of aging is waiting with an ever-greater patience and an ever- stronger expectation.  It is living with an eager hope.  It is trusting that through Christ "we have been admitted into God's favour ... and look forward exultantly to God's glory" (Romans 5:2).


- Henri J. M. Nouwen  

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Text excerpts taken from Bread for the Journey, by Henri J.M. Nouwen, �1997 HarperSanFrancisco. All Scripture from The Jerusalem Bible �1966, 1967, and 1968 Darton, Longman & Todd and Doubleday & Co. Inc. Photo by V. Dobson.