Later-Life Fitness Journey # 4
Later-life offers this choice:
Use retirement to build a bridge
or to rear a wall.
Gifted with days filled with life-giving opportunities,
I choose to be steady and strong building bridges
connecting family and others, helping people belong
LATER-LIFE FITNESS JOURNEY # 3
On my later-life fitness journey
I am learning to eat natural food mindfully.
LATER-LIFE FITNESS JOURNEY #2
In the book of life has been written all the days that were formed for me. On my later-life fitness journey, fun physical exercise helps me age joyfully.
LATER-LIFE FITNESS JOURNEY # 1
A writing ritual is an important part of my
later-life fitness journey. Like a tasty espresso,
a few minutes of creative writing every day
heightens my awareness of what’s life-giving.
Strange and wonderful—this season of Advent
Waiting on the Word made flesh, our voice is awakened and the child In us comes alive
Seize a Sacred Moment
and Dance on Holy Ground
Every day there are precious moments when we can
breathe the Spirit of God in deeply,
kick off our shoes, and dance before the Lord
When tears came on Whidbey Island where I had moved to start my life over after my first wife of nearly forty years had died suddenly, I breathed deeply, rested a lot, and wrote my book of poetry Peach, Limestone, and Green.
I walked on a hallowed island where many have gone before, but I was not alone, crazy, or having a nervous breakdown. . . . My heart was at work, my soul awake and very much alive, and they helped me hear and bring to expression a song of love, hope and everlasting joy.
Strolling above the beach on a summer day off
a colleague told of a chance encounter
with a person who looked out on the ocean and said:
“Look at the view! Just look at the view!”
Words of wisdom from a complete stranger,
or was it an angel in disguise?
On my day off today I’m going to take some time
to really see what’s right in front of me.
And I hear Wisdom say, “You won’t be disappointed.”
There’s something about singing—
Be it a birthday jingle for a grandchild
or an anthem for some grand celebration,
by singing I enter the love song that flows like a river
Reading Gerard Manley Hopkin’s sonnet
God’s Grandeur
I take heart in the eternal freshness of nature
I have watched God’s grandeur rise from my own
feeling crushed
have trod and trod, yet my soul never spent
Now in my later years I have experienced
a ”dearest freshness of deep down things”
and to my delight— bright new wings!
Spiritual Practice:
Consider joining me in a learning circle for later life wellness. Contact me if you or someone you know might be interested.