The effects of aging are prominently portrayed in our society, in television ads, movies, newspaper accounts, all repeating the general belief that we decline as we age. One specific claim is that as time’s chronometer spins on, we become too old to participate in things such as challenging athletic endeavors. We’re asked to accept the notion that some physical activities become too hard for us as older people. This depressing belief has a sneaky companion: “Competing in sporting events is only for young people.” My recent experiences gave me the opportunity to disprove these claims, through the understanding I’ve gained from Christian Science about God and how He has created us.
In running competitions, awards are given for “open category” and “masters category” winners. “Master” is a euphemism for “older,” but I like the adjective. “Master” suggests greater skill and special wisdom, and one who has dominion over life’s challenges. I also like the verb “to master,” which suggests success in overcoming a challenge, such as—in my case—fear.
Last year, 400 other swimmers and I had signed up in the “open category” for a 2.4-mile swimming race that crossed a large lake. There was no separate category for older swimmers. My training had been mostly in an indoor swimming pool with clear water, no wind, and no waves. It had been years since I’d been on a swim team, and I was more than a little rusty.
The race started from a sandy beach; all 400 of us ran to the lake and dove in. In the splashing start, my goggles were kicked off. Not being able to see where I was going, and only about two football fields distance from shore, I took a wind-blown wave in the face, inhaled a lungful of water, and sank under the surface. Full of fear, I became frightened, feeling as if I was drowning. Then came the condemning mental suggestion: “What are you doing out here, racing against these young athletes?”
Living in accord with Life, God, by demonstrating our true identity as the reflection of Life, is a worthy goal.
Right on the heels of this thought, I recalled a New Testament event in which Christ Jesus rebuked fear: after sending his disciples ahead by ship, intending to catch up with them later that night, he went to a mountain to pray. In the middle of the night, he walked on the sea toward them, and seeing him, the disciples became fearful, wondering if what they saw was a spirit, or apparition. But Jesus calmed their fears, saying: “Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid” (see Matthew 14: 22–31).
The last thing the disciples expected was that Jesus would walk across the sea to them. But material wind and waves were not obstacles for Christ Jesus; he was unrestricted in his demonstration of the omniaction of divine Spirit, God. He knew that God, Spirit, fills all space, and that, as Mary Baker Eddy, the Founder of Christian Science, notes: “Spirit is the life, substance, and continuity of all things. We tread on forces.… Human knowledge calls them forces of matter; but divine Science declares that they belong wholly to divine Mind, are inherent in this Mind, and so restores them to their rightful home and classification” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 124). These forces are not material, but spiritual, as Christ Jesus so ably demonstrated.
Then Peter, described by Mrs. Eddy as “impetuous,” asked if he could walk on the water, too (Science and Health, p. 137). Jesus agreed, and Peter ventured forward onto the sea, only to become afraid when the wind picked up. He soon began to sink, crying out for Jesus to save him. Jesus responded right away: “And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?”
I could empathize with Peter’s fear. But Peter needed to understand that he was not just a mortal trying to keep from sinking below the surface of material water. I saw that he would have been helped if he had known that he was, in fact, the perfect reflection of infinite, unlimited Mind, God. He lived, moved, and had his being in Mind, not in matter (see Acts 17:28). He was sustained by the omnipotence of Mind.
We can apply this lesson to ourselves. In the real Science of our being we are not aging mortals, threatened by matter, but spiritual ideas, unrestricted in expressing the eternal action of divine Mind. The nature of God, our divine Parent, is to maintain our perfection, and God’s love is right here guarding and guiding us. God’s presence lifts us up when we are sinking in the mire of falsities about God and man.
All of this went through my thought in mere seconds. Back in the lake, I knew that drowning was only a threat if I chose to indulge in the fear. Praying to calm myself, I was able to reach the surface. Then a new thought came to me: “God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (II Timothy 1:7). I held to this idea as if it was a spiritual life preserver. Further calmed, I reasoned that since God did not create fear, then fear couldn’t control my experience. God is eternal Life, and, as His immortal idea, we can reflect only God and live a joyful, active life. Confidently, I chose to hold to these truths and rejected the notions of fear and aging.
In the real Science of our being we are not aging mortals, threatened by matter, but spiritual ideas, unrestricted in expressing the eternal action of divine Mind.
I resolved in that moment to continue the race. This Bible passage popped into my thought: “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness” (Isaiah 41:10). I felt “upheld,” and my swimming progress improved at a steady pace. Before I knew it, the first mile came and went, then the second mile, and on I swam. With less than a half-mile left to go, one leg cramped up, stopping me in the water. But this time, I was mentally prepared and said, “Nonsense!” mentally denying the existence of any power apart from God. The leg relaxed after about a minute, and I continued swimming strongly, even passing a few other swimmers on the way to the finish line. My finish time was fairly respectable, and I actually felt refreshed after completing the race.
In the book of Joshua, 85-year-old Caleb says: “As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now” (Joshua 14:11). Aging is not a law of our real nature but a mental belief that would hypnotize and create fear, if we go along with it. It may suggest we should stop participating in activities that are right, even fun, for us—or that we should become sedentary. Living in accord with Life, God, by demonstrating our true identity as the reflection of Life, is a worthy goal. And we can know that our Father is right here, maintaining our vitality and freedom to be active.
To master athletics or any other worthy activity, we can consciously outgrow society’s beliefs about aging. We can identify ourselves in divine Science as expressing the newness of Spirit, moment by moment. Perhaps we’ll develop new skills, or begin a new adventure. Regardless of the choice we make, we can all gain new glimpses of our genuine identity as God’s idea, always expressing ageless Life.
