Gaining from P-O-W-E-R

Viewpoint
"GETTING old isn't much fun, Lord."
"No. You'll have to talk to Joseph about that. But I want to make five suggestions that should turn the stumbling blocks of old age into stepping-stones." "I think I can guess some of them. You're going to tell me to repent, aren't you? I haven't got the energy to get up to much these days."
"Maybe not. But you can still be very judgmental. You expect far too much of your priest, you're intolerant of the young, and sometimes you go nearly puce when a small baby cries in the middle of Mass. I wouldn't mind so much if you weren't completely unaware of all the trouble you youself caused when you were young, that those who loved you just had to absorb as best they could."
"Point taken. Next, Lord?"
"You still have quite a lot to offer. You have more time for friends, and now's the time to practise it, before I take the older ones away and you have none left."
"But you've never been very keen on my giving people advice, Lord. It's terribly tempting, when you're sure that old age has given you wisdom."
"True. but you've learnt to manage on your pension; I think you've even learnt to trust me to look after you. That's something you can share. And evern more important you can do a lot more listening than when you have to dash about so much. Everyone has more to offer than they think."
"And your next suggestion?"
"Do you remember Saint Paul's enthusiasm for what was to come? At one stage I had to be very firm with him about sticking to the work I had for him to do. In fact all my first disciples were so eagerly expecting my return that death was a mere interlude, a ruffling of the waters. I would like you to recapture the same spirit. You need have no fear; you are in my hands to the end. Keep your sense of expectation."
"I do try, Lord. But we live in a world that is fearfull for the old and weak these days. I am not getting any stronger, and the demands on me seem to be no less."
"Then you may have to begin to accustom yourself to the idea that the younger generation of your family are in the saddle now, You may have to be prepared to do what is most considerate to them. You can start pulling your stakes up, and possessions won't weigh you down so much. Not to mention
all the troubles they bring. How about a covenant for CHAS, or Cafod? That would provide hope and expectation for someone else."
"But I do already. You know that."
"Why not a bigger covenant? I notice one of yours hasn't been changed since before decimalisation. Or take on an extra need to give to. But don't stop looking forward."
"All right, Lord. You win. What's the next thing?"
"It really follows on. Try never to lose your sense of wonder. That in all the state of the world as you see it, there's also so much downright goodness. If you live to pass your century you still won't exhaust all there is to wonder at."
"Funny you should say that Lord. Only this morning I was looking across the harbour. There was our old friend the cormorant, perched on the channel marker post, with his wings stretched out as though he were posing for a heraldic shield.
I wondered how he managed to perch for so long; and I wondered even more why on earth you made him so that he needed to dry his wings. After all, you fixed up his mate the shag with perfectly oiled feathers, so he doesn't have to give the matter a thought."
"Well, that just could be to help someone who doesn't know them apart any other way. Or it could be to make sure that you don't run out of things to wonder about. You'll have to wait and see."
"I will, Lord, as long as you tell me your last suggestion."
"You know it perfectly well. You have a whole worldful of opportunity for prayer."
"I know, Lord. But it always seems so fitful when I try."
"That's why you haven't noticed that when you get your aims in order they make a new kind of sense. Just go over them again, will you?"
"Let's see. Repentance, Offering, Expectation, Wonder, Prayer. Oh, I see! If I get them in order they give me Power!"
"Yes. I don't really want to insult your intelligence, but I do want to suggest to you that if you will only surrender to my plan for you, you will count for more than you may think, even in old age. You may not have the power of a Murdoch or a Gorbachev, but yours will carry you into realms they do not even dream of. It will certainly bring you more happiness than theirs.'' "Lord, I do hope so. There goes my arthritis again."
Patrick Foort