Aging Spiritually: Growing Older with God
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Welcome to Aging Spiritually – Growing Older with God. This weekly reflection will be sent by email each Monday to the First Baptist Church of Decatur, Georgia Legacy Ministry email list. If you would like to be included on this email list, please contact our Communications Coordinator, Rev. Kelsey Lewis Vincent, at klewis@fbcdecatur.com
Aging Spiritually is an exploration of how we relate to God in our lives as we grow older. Each weekly reflection will be based on one of six spiritual themes of aging:
Your understanding of God – who is God to you?
Your relationship with God – to know God and be known by God.
Your spiritual resilience – walking with God through loss and limitations.
Your community in Christ – knowing God through relationships with others.
Meaning and purpose in your life – how is God working in and through you?
Faithful and hopeful completion of life – living abundantly to the end.
Every reflection will include my thoughts on how God works in our lives as we grow older, concluding with a guide to a particular spiritual practice for the week. These practices will include reflection on a Scripture passage, different forms of prayer, suggestions for listening to God, keeping a journal of spiritual reflections, and being deeply attentive to God’s work in your life.
Some of the recommended practices will be familiar to you, while others may not. Aging Spiritually will offer opportunities to explore these new practices, growing more comfortable with them over time. My hope is that you will let these practices lead you on an inner journey to the heart with God.
The Season of Lent during the church year is a time of inner searching to deepen your relationship with God prior to the Easter celebration. Our reflections will guide us on this deeper journey. The theme of this Lenten series is: Learning to Breathe Again, as we look inward to rebuild our lives after two years of pandemic illness and isolation.
Learning to Breathe Again – Lenten reflections
March 7 – Knowing God as Life, Light, and Love
March 14 – Valleys and Mountains
March 21 – No Going Back
March 28 – Emptied and Filled
April 4 – Hope and Heaven
April 10 – To Suffer With
I look forward to sharing Aging Spiritually with you each Monday.
Practice
This week’s spiritual practice is gratitude. During the week, consider everything in your life you are grateful for. List each item, allowing your list of gratitude to grow each day. Reflect on what each item means in your life and why you are grateful for it. Each evening before you sleep, offer God a prayer of thanks for each item.
Greg Smith
Legacy Ministry for Older Adults