062112 Weirs Times Newspaper

THE WEIRS TIMES & THE COCHECO TIMES, Thursday, June 21, 2012

COMMUNITY CHURCH MEDITATIONS LIFE ISN’T EASY

by Rev. Victoria Wood Parrish Contributing Writer

My dad used to say

(along with many other older people), “Getting old isn’t for sissies.” I like that attitude, and

I have seen it expressed by many older people. It takes courage and pluck to stand up to what life dishes out, especially as we age. We start as infants, de-

pendent on others for your survival. As we grow up, we gain skills. Then as adults, it seems like we can do it all – until we hit that hill of years and it gets harder and harder. Suddenly we are over the top and going downhill until, for some, we are no longer able to care for our- selves. It takes a brave person to admit that it is time to stop driving, or time to close up the big house. It takes courage to allow others to care for us, and to know that our strongest years are behind us. But I don’t think there

is any age at which life is “easy”. Think of that baby,

warmly swaddled and rocked in her father’s arms. Sounds safe and warm. But then think of cold wet diapers, and hunger without the abil- ity to make a sandwich. You can’t form words even though you can under- stand them, and people don’t speak your lan- guage. Life isn’t so easy. The two year old learns

to say no because that is the word they hear the most. They must feel like they are facing constant opposition – and then there are all the scrapes and bruises from falling and hitting your head. Life isn’t easy. School comes and you

have to learn to sit in a chair, control yourself,

be part of a group and share the teacher’s atten- tion. Tests! Homework! Dependence on adults to take you places! Life isn’t easy. Teenaged years: acne, dating, breaking up, ap- plying to college, getting jobs, still under parent’s rules, emotions and hor- mones. Life isn’t easy. Then the adult years

when everything should be triumphant – but there is the job and the boss, lack of free time, marriage and babies, mortgage and debt, strong bodies and strained cartilage, slow- ing metabolism and the expanding waistline. Life isn’t so easy. And then we realize we

are old and the next great transition will be death. Where did the years go? When we talk in church

about the blessings of God and the support faith gives us in this life, we do not assume that life will ever be easy. That would be unrealistic. No, life won’t be easy for anyone – not you, not, me, not Donald Trump. Life will be challenging. It will be difficult. However, through the

eyes of faith, we know that we are not alone. May- be we have lost our best friend through death or a divorce has separated a family. Maybe we are liv- ing alone when we would rather have a partner. Christ has told us that he would not leave us alone, but that the comfort of the Holy Spirit would always be with us. Through the eyes of

faith, we believe that this life is not the only life and that there will be an eter- nal life. We don’t know what it will be like totally, but there is the hope that when this life ends, some- thing more and better awaits. Through the eyes of faith, we believe that all

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the challenges of life may hold blessings – we may learn who our true friends are, we may learn survival skills, we may learn how to understand others. We all face hard times.

The challenge is to look beyond the moment to- ward the future, and to look with expectation for the fullness of God’s love. You are blessed, and

you can be a blessing to others.

Rev. Victoria Wood Par-

rish is the pastor of the First United Methodist Church in Gilford, NH, located on Route 11-A. It is a congregation of open hearts, open minds, and open doors. We invite you to worship with us on Sundays at 10:30 AM. Children’s activities and nursery are available dur- ing the 10:30 morning wor- ship. We also invite you to the United Methodist Church in the Weirs, 35 Tower St., which worships at 10:00 AM. There are also many other local con- gregations who would wel- come you to worship.

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