I am surprised that at age 77, I am still thinking about the future. I am not alone. We seniors have redefined aging. But, I do realize that my lights could go out at any time, so I am still busy trying to be a productive “senior citizen”. I was “over the hill”, but I saw another hill so I will try to keep moving forward.
When I was “over the hill”, I was tired and weary. But we seniors can be restored if we follow the nutrition and exercise instructions that we have been reading about all our lives. If you feel worn out and weary, I understand, because I did, too. But we can be restored. We can relax- recharge – renew – restore – recreate- refresh – reset. We can find a purpose. We can find something that we want to do that we never had the time for. Now is our time, if we are able.
I still want to write, promote my book, “Inspired By Autism” and raise money for the Pervis Jackson Foundation to help needy children with disabilities. All children with disabilities are needy, but ones with lower income can always use help. I am thankful to be in a position to help. My help is minimal and we can’t do everything for everyone, but we can do something for someone. I will probably be helping children with handicaps from now on.
Once I became restored, I feel like a new me. Not someone’s child, or someone’s mother, someone’s wife, someone’s teacher, someone’s relative, etc. I feel like ME. What a revelation! At my age, to feel like a new person. I feel like i got my “second wind” in life. It took a village of writers, speakers, teachers, doctors whose words I read to help restore me. I love the impact that Eckhart Tolle’s book. “A New Earth” had on me. He said that sometimes, we have to ‘just be”. That was and still is hard for me, but it helps to rejuvenate and restore.
One of the things that the new me is is a Deacon. Two years ago, I was ordained as a Deacon at the New Mt. Vernon Missionary Baptist Church in Ferndale, Michigan. It is an honor that I never expected. I feel that I have always served God, but now it is in an official capacity. Being a Deacon was never on my list of things to do, but I am proud to serve. I missed a lot of church services while trying to raise PJ, and maybe now I can make up for that. We need God now more than ever.
I know that I don’t want to be a part of the chaos in the world. Who would have thought that society would change so much? When I was a little girl, there was a saying that the world would become “weaker and wiser”. Has that happened? Does that mean that we have to become stronger? We can try. We can hope. “For we are saved by hope; but hope seen is not hope”. Romans 8: 24.
May we live long and prosper.
Claudreen Jackson