Author Bernadette McCarver Snyder shares her warmhearted, comfortable way of chatting with God?full of wonder, thanksgiving, a few complaints, and lots of laughter. Joyful reading for people of all ages who could use a prayer or two during those ?senior moments.?
Excerpt:
Time is precious, possibly even more so when you have enough years to have accumulated a lot of happy “remember whens” and maybe a few “I can’t remember whats.” Every one alive is aging, no matter what age they are. So join the club. Appreciate the perks of seniority. Be grateful for the gift of each day. And whenever you are having a “senior moment” do a bit of praying!
There’s a saying: “pray always”; and you can do that if you just pray wherever you go, whatever you are doing, whether it’s a great day or a sad day. You can make the most of whatever is happening in your life by turning it all into prayer time.
This little book will give you ideas of the way you might pray wherever you are.
Get a Life?
Dear Lord, here I am in my cozy kitchen, brewing up a cup of tea to warm the cockles of my aging heart. Yes, I said aging, not fully aged yet. I could have mellowed like a fine wine or aged cheese—but I didn’t. I still sometimes make decisions as silly as I did as a teenager or act as moody as a middle-aged “mad housewife,” but today I am just a bit crotchety because I started remembering a time when my aging was attacked.
I had pulled into a parking spot a bit crookedly, so I needed to back out a bit and then go back in to get parked perfectly. It only took a few seconds, but it obviously irritated the sweet young person who was waiting to pull around me, so she stuck her head out of her car window and yelled, “Get a life!”
Lord, I have a life—and what a wonderful one it has been. A lot of years have come and gone, full of fun and folly, glad, sad and glorious. And I thank you for each and every day. I still have a life, but one that is a bit different, a bit “challenged” at times. I can still do most of my favorite things, maybe not quite as fast and probably not quite as well, but so what? I’ve been there, done that, in the old days. Now it’s time to keep from getting discouraged by looking for new ways to do old routines—take shortcuts, simplify expectations, pay someone to do the big lifting and big chores, etc.
Lord, I think maybe you might be telling me to use my “found” time to learn to be less anxious about the inconvenience of aging, less hesitant to try new ways to adapt, and then learn to be more grateful for each new day. Recently I heard that the trick to staying alive and lively is “to find something you really love to work on or be a part of,” so I think that will be #2 on my NEW wish list. Of course, #1 will be to spend more time in prayer-visits, happy remembrances, laughing at my own foolishness and seeing problems as an opportunity to learn. Then all my senior moments can be filled with more peace and less angst.
Thanks, Lord, for my crazy life, both past and present, but I gotta go now—my tea is getting cold.
When questioning
Dear Lord, little kids have lots of questions, and we don’t always have answers. But senior citizens have lots of questions too. Am I getting too old to drive, play golf, go to a movie, eat lunch out, tell silly jokes, dress young, sing loud, have the TV on too loud, mow the lawn, plant seeds for next year (when I may not be here then), cook, or give advice? Oh, and does my doctor know what he is doing to care for my health?
Well, Lord, we are sounding like the kids, with lots of questions and not many answers. Then, today, I picked up a book that was supposed to have “conversation starters.” It asked questions that might start a conversation—or end one. “What was the happiest day in your life, and how did you spend it?” “Who is your favorite relative, and why?” “What is the luckiest thing that ever happened to you?” “What age have you liked best so far?” “What do you remember about your eighth-grade school year?” “What frightens you?” “If you could do it all again, what three things would you change?”
Actually, I never have had too much trouble starting a conversation—only ending it. As you know too well, Lord, when I get started I can go on and on. But for a while today, that little book had me scratching my head trying to answer all the questions by myself. But then I sensed a change in the atmosphere, a different odor.
Before I picked up that book, I had put on a pot of green beans to simmer for supper. I should have learned a long time ago that I should never put anything on the stove to cook and then sit down with a book. Now the beans are in the trash, and I spent a half hour scrubbing out the black spots; but good news: I think I saved the pot!
Now Lord, I have a question for that list—“What is the stupidest thing you have done recently?” You and I know the answer.