The art of eldering

I have been thinking about the art of eldering—what it means and how I can fully and gracefully live into my own eldering potential.

Last spring I caught a glimpse of a chapel honoring the graduating high school seniors. I thought about how throughout our lives we get seasons to be the elder. Our 3-year-old granddaughter is learning how to be a big sister, an elder to her baby brother. She is learning not to hug too hard, how to (slowly) share toys, and to gently pat his back at the doctor’s office and assure him that everything will be OK.

I have realized that eldering is not primarily a chronological phenomenon. The gifts for eldering are spiritual and cumulative. We get in touch with our old soul any time in our lives when we live more fully into our being and more deeply connected to others. This is to live into the fullness of Christ—our elder brother. This is a lifelong process.

May we trust our Shepherd and follow him and live for the sake of his name. For his name is Friend, is Hope, is Love. His name is Elder.

Today we remember Jerome, translator, teacher (420). This message was adapted from “The Place of the Elder” written by Martha Sterne that first appeared in the October 2010 issue of Lutheran Woman Today (now Gather) magazine.

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