a blessing when these aren’t the anticipated golden years

Oh God, I believed that the autumn of my life might bring some new and gentle freedoms, yet now is a season of pandemic dangers and constraints.

How long, o Lord? I need relief and comfort and hope.

God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.

Why do You hide Your face? Why do You forget our sufferings and all our troubles?
Psalm 44:24

God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.

In my distress I called to the LORD, and He answered and set me free. Psalm 118:5

Blessed are we are the older ones,
who turn to You in this singular time of trouble:
o God we have lived long and loved much,
yet never have we known a crisis of this order.

We cry out to You!
We long for contact and connection, yet we are afraid.
We grieve our losses.
The ability to be present to family and friends at special times,
the births and birthdays, the summers that will never be again,
the adventures we will never take,
the chance to say to the beloved:
thank you. i’m sorry.
good-bye.

Yet blessed are we who say o God, You know me,
the path my feet have walked and all that is ahead.

O God, enfold me for a moment in Your Presence,
that i might remember that You are my refuge and strength.

Blessed are we who know the treasure that is silence,
who draw from its store the remembrance of times past,
who accept the tears that freely come,
the truth of all that is, and was, and all we could not change.

And o how blessed are we the lowly who have stilled our souls,
and wait with open hands, and offer up our questions and our prayers.

And suddenly there comes the perfect peace
that fills a place we didn’t know existed.
And inexplicably, we are seen.
we are known.
we are loved.

God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.

Wrap yourself in a blanket, and wait for the sigh. Pray one forgotten prayer. Be.

He will cover you with his pinions,
and under His wings you will find refuge.
Psalm 91:4