Right now I spend half of my work life with young adults and half of my work life with senior adults. Serving as chaplain in both settings I am finding that both groups have a great deal in common and my response in each setting is to listen and to be present. I love both groups. Members of each group stretch me, challenge me and offer fresh insight into life and life meaning.
It is interesting that I am identifying one question that hits both groups but in different ways.
Every day in my work with those in the long term care setting I have at least one person who asks, “Why am I still alive?” This is a struggle for those who deal with weakness and pain. As they begin to let go of the life they know they begin to feel that this final segment of the journey takes longer than they would like it to. The question is a letting go and it is an anticipation of what is to come. This last transition is also a pivot point as one re-launches from this life to the next.
I began to realize that young adults really ask the same question, just from a different perspective. Young adults are letting go, as well, of a life that they have known, as they begin to move into a new phase of the journey. Young adults also anticipate that which is to come as they try to figure out what they are to do with this life.
Individuals in both groups seek vocation and call. The senior adult in the last stages of transition want to know what to do with the breath they still have. Young adults want to know how to serve meaningfully as well.
For each of them the transition is a challenge. New questions arise every day as they make sense out of the life given to them. These types of transitions offer opportunities for growth and the opportunity to embrace the ways in which God calls to serve.
What a privilege it is to walk with the members of these two groups. God blesses me through them.
What questions do you get throughout the day?
