Article August 1, 1994 Issue

Moving beyond the limits of age

Virginia Houge Stevens

When my husband and I moved to a new city, the only people we knew there were two close friends of my parents. One day, the wife of this couple accompanied my husband on an apartment-hunting expedition. In one building, the manager asked my husband, "Would you and your wife like to see an apartment?" Our friend could easily have been my husband's mother. Later we all laughed about the unknowing compliment the manager had given her. But that experience pointed up something I have noticed on a continuing basis about this friend. She is youthful in face and stature, with a light step and energy, exhibiting a mental quickness and perception that have grown, rather than diminished, with the passage of time.

It began to dawn on me that this wasn't just luck or a consequence of inheriting "good genes," but was directly related to her willingness as a student of Christian Science to identify herself as God's spiritual child and let go of false character traits. I asked her about her approach to the problem of aging. She said that Christian Science has taught her not to drift along with the general current of thought. She is careful to place her study of Christian Science first on her daily agenda. But far from being a burden, the study, daily striving, and endeavor to develop new skills and interests are—for her—fun!

Strive is a very strong word, meaning "to exert much effort or energy." My friend commented that to her the word shows "there must be great effort on our part to avoid the thought-traps that would drag us into old age." Striving isn't stubborn determination but a genuine, persistent effort to grow in our understanding of man's true nature as God's expression. We need a willingness to root out whatever holds on to the limited and mortal, those "thought-traps." To do this means to turn humbly to God in quiet listening for guidance. Striving may call for struggle, because the suggestions that man is mortal seem to fly at us from every angle, but the struggle has rewards.

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