Timeless, limitless existence

Recently my husband and I were privileged to help in the care of a relative reaching and passing the century mark. Each day as I thought of her, I prayed to better understand that God's man is neither young nor old, never born and never dying. The Bible points to this timeless, limitless sense of life. God, Spirit, cannot be limited in any direction, I reasoned. How, then, could His image, man, be so?

For instance, in Psalms we read: "In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion.... By thee have I been holden up from the womb .... Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth.... I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more.... Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side" (71:1, 6, 9, 14, 21 ).

I often turned, too, to the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health, where there is a very helpful discussion of handling the beliefs of aging (see pp. 244–248 ). "Men and women of riper years and larger lessons ought to ripen into health and immortality, instead of lapsing into darkness or gloom," writes Mary Baker Eddy. And on page 246 there are eight qualities mentioned that apply to ageless man: vigor, freshness, promise, wisdom, beauty, holiness, loveliness, and continuity.

During this period our daughter and son-in-law adopted a newborn boy, born two months prematurely to a mother who had a substance-abuse problem. I began to include this precious grandson in my daily prayers. I clung to this truth: "In Science man is the offspring of Spirit. The beautiful, good, and pure constitute his ancestry" (ibid., p. 63). I also thought of how this promise from Psalms applied to that tiny infant: "The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage" (16:5, 6 ).

One day those wonderful qualities—vigor, freshness, promise, and so on—came to my thought as I was praying about the purity and completeness of the innocent baby. My initial reaction was, "Oh, no, that's how I pray about older people." But these qualities kept coming back to me in relation to my grandson. I knew why when I read this statement: "The measurement of life by solar years robs youth and gives ugliness to age" (Science and Health, p. 246 ). Chronological data not only limits those of golden years, I realized, but also "robs youth"!

We can't categorize people according to any age, and that includes "terrible twos," "troubled teens," and "thirty somethings." We celebrate all sorts of time milestones, from birthdays to the anniversaries of historical events. But identifying each other according to calendars is a trap.

Those qualities of agelessness are applicable to those in the neonatal ward, to those in nursing homes, and to everyone we meet. Let's look at them more closely.

Vigor is an attribute of Life. It is ever present, doesn't diminish, and is always equal to our needs. Apathy, complacency, lethargy, and giving up are no part of Life.

Freshness describes our true being: unspoiled, pure, immaculate. We can expect to have fresh and delightful views and experiences at every stage of our life.

What about promise? Paul said, "Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise" (Gal. 4:28 ). Now! We! We each have unlimited promise or potential because of our limitless spiritual source.

Wisdom is a faculty of divine Mind that God's child includes at any age. Because of this, even young children can grasp and apply spiritual laws. Wisdom isn't something we acquire with years, and it doesn't decline into confusion and forgetfulness.

The child of God, Soul, must express beauty. "The beautiful, good, and pure constitute his ancestry," writes Mrs. Eddy (Science and Health, p. 63 ). Matter cannot enhance or destroy our inherent beauty.

As for holiness, "the beauty of holiness," of which the Psalmist wrote (Ps. 29:2 ), is innately ours because God, Spirit, created man free from sin and evil. And holiness goes hand in hand with health, harmony, and immortality. These qualities are inseparable.

Loveliness is all around us, embracing us. This fact might not always be apparent, but the understanding that, in truth, "the loveliness of Love" is right here can bring healing and upliftment (Christian Science Hymnal, p. 64 ). Divine Love is infinite, ever present.

Continuity brings to mind progress, ever-expanding vision, and opportunity. There are no vacuums in our life where God's goodness somehow stops or is absent. Infancy and old age don't have to be characterized as periods of dependence and incompleteness. God's spiritual man coexists with God and has full access to all of His intelligence. God doesn't just launch us and then let us go. God maintains "my lot."

Focusing on these qualities, I prayed to correct my concept of everyone on whom my thought rested. I wasn't praying to change someone, just to exchange my belief in mortal man for the right sense of man as the image and likeness of God. This way I could combat the mortal beliefs connected with any age. As I did so, I wasn't surprised to see more evidence of these qualities in our elderly relative, as well as in our rapidly blossoming grandson.

We can undo our own mental chronological shackles. And we can guard ourselves and our loved ones against being limited by the general thought about age. Turning away from matter's measurements, we can begin to demonstrate timeless, limitless existence. Now!