Live Fully

As usual, the book I want to look at is on a top shelf in the bookstore. But today is different. Today isn’t like the million times before when I’ve had to search the store high and low for an employee to reach up and grab the book for me.

     No. Today is different. Today, I can do it myself! I adjust the control on my new power wheelchair to the lift position and move the toggle forward, ever so slightly. The chair begins to lift me up in a seated position. It reaches the middle shelf and keeps climbing. A few seconds later, I am twelve inches higher and able to reach the book I want to look at myself. It’s simply exhilarating! For the first time in fifty-two years I can reach a top shelf. My smile is as broad as the bookshelf is wide. So this is what it feels like to reach any item you want in the store! I sit in silence, savoring the moment, delighting in my new reality. I never, ever thought this would be possible.

     For the long-term health of my hands and shoulders, I should have transitioned to a power wheelchair three years ago. My hand doctor pleaded with me to stop using my manual chair, but I refused to listen to him. I particularly loved pushing my wheelchair on a two-mile concrete trail around our beautiful community two-three times a week. I couldn’t begin to think about giving this up. Not only did I enjoy the exercise, my mental health thrived on being able to push far and fast. I was addicted and couldn’t stop…until my hands and wrists began to hurt and lose their function.

     Switching from a manual wheelchair to a power chair has been an emotional and psychological adjustment for which I was not prepared. While a thirty-pound manual wheelchair whispers, “You have a disability,” a four hundred and thirteen pound power chair screams, “Look how disabled you are!” But after today’s experience in the bookstore, I realize how flawed I was in my thinking. My new chair is a blessing, not a curse. My hands and wrists thank me for it every day.

     Why are we so hesitant and unwilling to use assistive devices that will actually help us live life more fully? Why are we so unwilling to stop participating in physical activities that do more harm than good to our aging bodies? What about the medication we should be taking, but don’t want to be perceived as weak and unable to cope with life as it unfolds? Or hearing aids we should be using. Did you know that prolonged hearing loss can lead to dementia?

     In her book, Uninvited, Lysa TerKeurst encourages us by saying, “We can live from the abundant place of being loved by God.” No matter what we’re facing, we are deeply loved. Especially in our sunset season when we’re faced with so many unwanted physical ailments and limitations.  Our worth and value isn’t found in our physical health or abilities, but rather in God’s heart. As our physical bodies decline, our souls ascend higher and higher, drawing us ever closer to God. Rather than viewing aging as a design flaw, perhaps this was God’s intent all along.

         Rest in Him. Abide in Him. Slow down long enough to listen to His Holy whispers, directing your next steps. Assistive devices enable us to live out our calling and purposes more fully, if we’re willing to use them. Our ability to participate in everyday life experiences actually increases. With my new wheelchair, I can hug people without them having to bend over, I can sit at high top tables, and adjust my seating position to make sitting down all day more comfortable….all because of new and upgraded technology I was so resistant to embrace.

     I’m thankful for God’s mercy and grace that eventually worked its way into my heart and revealed the truth about living in my sunset season: even with our limitations, we can still live a full life, fully loved by God. People will hardly notice your hearing aid, wheelchair or walker.  Instead, they will see the love of the Lord and give glory to God in Heaven.   

 
     Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some upper kitchen cabinets to re-arrange!


What About You?
 1. Are there physical activities you enjoy that are causing you more pain than benefit? If so, what are they? What would it take for you to stop doing them?
2. Describe how you feel about using devises that could actually help you live your life more fully.
3. Predict how your life could change for the better if you stopped doing that which is causing you physical harm or started using assistive devices such as braces, canes or walkers, or took a medication that would give you more emotional stability.
4. What would it take for you to receive this as a blessing?
5. Sometimes we need encouragement from a trusted friend. Find such a friend who shares a similar struggle and spur one another on toward living life to it’s fullest during your sunset season.