Thursday 13th April 2023
A good read
Louise Morse
Reading is good for you – that’s official. It informs, encourages, uplifts and inspires, and take you into another world. It can be enhanced with a good cup of tea and a comfortable chair. Or, thinking of the summer days to come (hopefully) a long cool lemonade with ice cubes and a seat under a shade in the sunshine.
‘The Final Lap’ by John Wyatt views older people as the Scriptures do, with lives planned by God in advance. It traces the arc of life from retirement to independent living, then dependency on others, and finally from living to dying. Each stage is imbued with God-given purpose, describing how you experience ‘your heart’s deepest gladness’ when you find yourself doing what you were created for, even in sad circumstances. Dr Wyatt was a consultant in neonatal paediatrics at University College London and found this to be true even when comforting the parents of a dying child.
He asks, ‘What are Older People For?’ Older people have much to offer others, and the time to do it. Time to listen, to share the gospel, and to share insight and wisdom. ‘The Final Lap’ by John Wyatt is a fairly small book that can be read in half a day, though it would be better to take your time with pauses for reflection. One of those moments could be after reading the story of Ruth, a single missionary who completed a research thesis and obtained a higher degree in her 80s. ‘In the final years of her life she took to travelling the London Underground from one end to the other, simply praying silently looking for opportunities for conversation with strangers. She said she thought of herself as a kind of moving tabernacle and spoke of how the Holy Spirit directed and worked through her to touch the lives of those she met.’
Dr Wyatt is now 70 and grateful for the wisdom he has gained over the years. He writes that he wouldn’t want to be 25 again, though it would be good to have a 25 year old body that didn’t ache so much. Finally, there is the finishing line and the falling asleep that we practice every night when we go to bed. Except that falling asleep in Christ, the physical dying, ‘is not only giving way to sleep after a long, gruelling and exhausting day, they are falling asleep on the first night of the holidays, with all the anticipation, excitement and joy to come when they wake up in the morning.’
The Final Lap is available from 10 Publishing
