An Invitation to Step into the Mystery

Several years ago I wrote a series of posts around the topic of Midlife with Purpose. My children were adults, I was working part-time, and I felt a tug of curiosity about what lay ahead for me. That was my invitation to step into the mystery of my life that I couldn’t see, control, or predict. The problem was that the books I read about the second half of life didn’t point to the mystery, the tension of the unknown.

The authors I read assured me that I would have time to deepen relationships with family, friends, and God. Yet, I didn’t – or couldn’t – understand that there isn’t a roadmap for everyone to follow. How those relationships will change is unpredictable and very likely will be uncomfortable.

Thanks to the recommendation of my friend Wendy, I found an author willing to share the uncomfortable truth about life changes and where to find hope.

“We are entering a new way of life, very different from the familiarity of our earlier life. …God understands the fragility of my new life and responds with love and gentleness.”

Alice Fryling, Aging Faithfully: The Holy Invitation of Growing Older, NavPress 2021, page 24
Book entitled Aging Faithfully

Reflection and Discussion: The Mystery of Aging

At the end of each chapter of Aging Faithfully, Fryling provides a list of questions for reflection and discussion. My husband and I are reading the book together. The bonus is that another couple agreed to go on this adventure with us! So, the four of us will gather to share our thoughts and experiences. Besides questions for discussion, there’s also a section for personal meditation. So this is where my thoughts have been lingering this week.

Midlife with Purpose

If you’re looking for my blog series about Midlife with Purpose, it’s gone. My empty nest years didn’t look anything like those books described. Thus, I didn’t feel right sharing them with my readers and removed them from my website. The books are worth reading. Yet, you know that your life is too rich and varied for someone to predict what will come next. Your relationships, health, finances, work, and world events can’t be wrapped up in a neat little package. No one could have prepared us for the disruption caused by the Covid pandemic, right?

With that in mind, here are the books I read seven years ago.

Falling Upward was my favorite of the three books. Sophie Hudson is a delightful author, and I loved reading her books Home Is Where My People Are and A Little Salty to Cut the Sweet. Perhaps Half Time was the least applicable to my life circumstances. I read it mostly because my husband read it, and I picked it out of his giveaway pile of books.

And Here’s My Disclaimer

Imagine me standing on my soapbox, waving a copy of Aging Faithfully, and telling everyone they need to read this book. But I haven’t read it yet. Yep, that’s me. I just finished reading chapter two. However, I’m so excited to find a book that makes me say, “You too! You’ve had those thoughts and felt those things?” So here I am to say this book seems too good to keep under wraps. Maybe you need it too, and please let me know if you read it!

Joyfully,

Tracie