Article January 1, 1996 Issue

Timeless, limitless existence

Barbara Juergens Fox

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.

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