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Personal Change and Conversion
 

by Richard Johnson

Maturing life brings us into the midst of change so profound that its been called a fundamental transformation. Change is no stranger to us, we've encountered change throughout our lives, but the change of mature living is change of another type entirely. Forces related to health, interior focus, relationships, loss, retirement, aging, wellness, and many more, push and press us into changes in relentless succession.

Change, of course is a necessity; it's a personal and a spiritual necessity. Without change we become stagnant, we begin to die. Perhaps the reason why some maturing adults become so spiritually somnolent is because they have deafened their ears to God's relentless call for change, illuminating transformation. The Holy Spirit is always seeking to raise us up, to stir us to change; this is the innate conversion potential of Advent.

For those maturing adults who have mastered the competencies of personal transition, the call to deeper living is positive and growthful. For others, the call is too much, they become overwhelmed, a bit "out-of-sorts," depressed, or contrary. They want things the way they were, not the way they are becoming.

Yet through the radical alchemy of God's love we are converted, we can move to profound change. We need to ever surrender to the greater mystery of God's purposes. I like to keep in mind the third principle of the Benedictine Rule: "...a commitment to live faithfully in unsettled times and to keep one's life sufficiently unsettled to respond to the changing voice of God." Certainly the maturing years can be "unsettled times." In our maturing years we are called to the wondrous surrender of self as never before, and discover there a deepened spirituality of wholeness.

For more on the competencies of change in the maturing years, log onto: www.SeniorAdultMinistry.com