image by Vinoth Chandar via Flickr CC BY 2.0 DEED
When the signs of age begin to mark my body
and still more when they touch my mind;
when the illness that is to diminish me or carry me off
strikes from without or is born within me;
when the painful moment comes
in which I suddenly awaken to the fact that
I am ill or growing old;
in all these dark moments, O God,
grant that I may understand that it is you,
provided only my faith is strong enough,
who are painfully parting the fibers of my being
in order to penetrate to the very marrow of my substance
and bear me away within yourself.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, 1881 – 1955, French philosopher and Jesuit priest
___________________________
Listen to me, O house of Jacob,
all the remnant of the house of Israel,
who have been borne by me from before your birth,
carried from the womb;
even to your old age I am he,
and to gray hairs I will carry you.
I have made, and I will bear;
I will carry and will save.
all the remnant of the house of Israel,
who have been borne by me from before your birth,
carried from the womb;
even to your old age I am he,
and to gray hairs I will carry you.
I have made, and I will bear;
I will carry and will save.
prayer & verse 
As we turn the calendar on yet another year and I begin to move into the 70’s, I am increasingly aware of the limitations my mind and body present to me. One encouraging message I heard a pastor bring from Ecclesiastes last year had a line in it that read, “Learning to be joyful in limitations.” That is the lesson I am trying to apply. Thank you for this prayer.
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Thanks Ron, I am beginning to understand what it means to grow old and the painful parting of the fibers of my being
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