When Your Step Has Lost its Spring - Jewell Utt

You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand. Psalm 16:11

When life changes we’re caught off guard. Routine is comfortable, but comfort doesn’t challenge us to greater heights. Whether change stems from job, family, health, aging, divorce or even an empty nest, we have to meet the challenge. Purpose can be found in all stages of life. And ultimate purpose, usually after years of experience and hard hits.

Embrace the changes in your life. God can use every season for His purposes. I admire my critique group leader, who at age 50 decided to enter the world of writing. Any new venture comes with a lot of hard work and doubt, but she did it with a spring in her step. Now at age 80, after hundreds of published works, she didn’t choose to retire in an easy chair. Instead, she chose to publish her first book of poetry and devotions.

What made the difference? The knowledge life is a gift from God to live.

Age and change mean new opportunities await. We all have something to offer and our experiences can encourage others to forge ahead. If you’re at a crossroads, ask God to reveal your gifts and opportunities. When you follow the path, it’ll  put a spring back in your step.

To:
Resident
1 Easy Chair
Empty Nest, Org 12345-6789

SPRING BACK

A welling in my soul reveals a void that can’t compare
The children have all left and now I’m here to make repair
The whirlwinds of the life we led have left me in despair
Am I to settle down and live within my Easy Chair?

The TV shows, they frighten me with all that time has changed
They feed the insecurities that fight within my brain
Am I so old, has life thus changed, that now I can’t take part?
Wait! Hearken to a message coming deep from in my heart

I have a dream, a cause, a skill, one you cannot proclaim
It comes from my own story, from years I walked this plain
My brow it raises to the sky, as thoughts begin to hark
A fire in my countenance cannot hold back the spark

I made a quilt of years gone by, and won a prize to boot
And managed household chaos, like a CEO could hoot
I sing with angels, draw with pen, can cook up a great feast,
I’ll take some to that neighbor, who with sickness has been ceased

A calming realization has emerged from a great source
My focus must be what I can, for weakness lacks a course
To help the sick, the down, the friend who time has slapped around,
To realize, as I once did, that fullness can be found