The 3rd Age Idea

The 3^rd Age Idea

(RELATIONSHIP TIME)

Life can now be appropriately divided into thirds.  The first third is roughly from starts with infancy and extends to about age 30.  It is preparation time, or getting started.  Birth, education, spiritual guidance, growing physically stronger, and learning about being a good person happens here.  Then, around age 30, we are usually well into a time of productivity.  Jobs, colleagues, friends and families are the clearest example of this.  These are usually by age thirty solidly underway yielding measurable, enjoyable, companionship, offspring, income, and other rewards.  Hard work often characterizes this part of life.

There are numerous exceptions to the rule but, for most, the years from age 30 to 60 are high energy, hardworking decades of building and refining important products and resources.

Then there is the 3^rd Age.  It can be a brand new and refreshing experience.  Often it begins with formal retirement.  In the past retirement offered only a few years of relief after a career of tedious employment.  It was not, as now, a whole new decades-long opportunity for something different.

In the past twenty years a major shift has begun.  Since then we have seen Octogenarians and even older, everywhere we looked.  Even living to age 100 is not so rare anymore.  So now life is no longer just two halves-preparation and production.  A fresh new third has opened to us.

For many the third quarter offers options rarely as plentiful earlier in life.  Some slide into new occupations that fit their passions.  Others finally have the opportunity to see the world or enjoy travel.  Many choose volunteer work helping, assisting, pitching in, on causes and projects that are clearly helpful to others:  a few examples are Bill Bryant-he is actively working as a Pastor; Ken Waltz does woodwork projects for family and friends; Don Heinlein will help anybody with Computer challenges; Art Gebhardt assists folk with home maintenance work.  Ed and Dorothy McCrory switched roles.  Ed is the “round-home” person and pursues his hobbies, while Dorothy reentered the workplace doing what she loves.   

Regardless of the many specific ways we can contribute, or enjoy life, there is one vital thread to be woven with special intentionality through these years.  In one word it is RELATIONSHIPS.  This word defines God’s mandate for us throughout our lives, but the 3^rd Age is a time when it is uniquely possible and important.

Nose to the grind-stone days are over.  Now we must notice people, give ourselves to them, and find ways to know and be known by others.  This is true in regard to our peers, those of our own age, but even more so it calls for connecting with the younger generation.  We have so much to give them!  Love, appreciation, admiration, encouragement, smiles.  These are easy to pass around and they nourish another’s soul like nothing else.  We also have ideas, wisdom, insights, experience that can be shared.  Many have skills, interests, and abilities that can be passed on to grandchildren and other youth. Little builds a child up as much as praise and appreciation from older folks unrelated to them.  These are gifts that should steadily flow from our lips into the hearts of those we meet.

All the while we are modeling something few of us had much of, namely how to be happy, healthy and enjoyable in the days often regarded as elderly.  The young need to see us living radiantly.  In the past few lived into their late seventies and eighties.  There were no patterns or styles for being an older person, they were so exceptional.  Today is different and we are leading the way, setting the standards, creating images of how to be in the third quarter of life.  It is an exciting challenge God has given us.  It is one in which we all can be active.