Article June 24, 2019 Issue

Aging? Or living eternal life now?

Andrea Ward

I’d had a wonderful day with friends, horseback riding on trails deep in a national forest. The scenery was magnificent, and joy permeated our conversations. As we sat around the campfire in the evening, I felt satisfied about the day. Then the talk turned to aging. As the conversation progressed, I found myself feeling increasingly frustrated and disappointed. Without thinking, I blurted out that I felt as if I were sitting in a nursing home listening to everyone complain. 

Not long after this experience, I became acutely aware of aging as a frequent topic of conversation. I also began to think of myself as aging in ways I hadn’t before.  

Yet, from my study of Christian Science, I’ve come to understand an entirely different concept of life that doesn’t include aging. While a view of life as mortal—as beginning and ending—presents the effects of aging as inevitable, the Bible teaches that “the gift of God is eternal life” (Romans 6:23). What a glorious promise to ponder! To me this means that God’s gift of spiritual (not material) life—without beginning or end—is given with the infinite love God has for us as His image, His wholly spiritual creation, and it is ours forever. And God’s gift of perfect, everlasting, spiritual life is something to be deeply treasured. 

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