In the Middles
“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me,
bless God’s holy name.
It is God who satisfies you with good as long as you live
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
-- A Hebrew hymn, Psalm 103: 1, 5
Some days youthfulness is difficult to feel, to recognize, and to embrace. Daily we encounter people whose youthfulness has been zapped from them -- some of them seem far too young to have that happen to them.
When “the middle years” (what is that range these days?) visit us, we feel we have gained a perspective on life. We struggle with phrases like “God satisfies you with good as long as you live.” The struggle is appropriate. We sometimes have to work to access those feelings of youthfulness. We can find it difficult to fully bless the Lord as we might have earlier in our lives. Here is an example of the “middle years” struggle expressed in prayer form by Rabbi Rami Shapiro:
“Is it morning, really morning, or is it just another day?
A new beginning or just a continuing yesterday?
How I wish for morning: a light soft and bleaching a night’s pain.
A new beginning, a new day.
But I fear morning is no longer with me.
Beginnings rarely seek me out—I am too much with middles.”
Seems to be an honest lament. If you are in the “middles,” remember you are not alone. May you find enough youthfulness today to empower you.
--Ben Keckler
05.20.09
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