Unity: What Is Eldering?

Kay Davis

Unity Church of Sun Lakes is a New Thought Community. We celebrate Peace, Love, Light, Joy, and Healing. Our practice is affirmative prayer and positive thinking, and we support each other in living a Spirit-centered life.

Services at church are suspended for the months of July and August, but Rev. Jeanne will give us our message by way of YouTube every Sunday. We will be back to the Arts & Crafts Room at Sun Lakes 1 Country Club on Sept. 10 at 10 a.m. Have a safe and blessed summer.

This comes straight from Unity’s booklet Spiritual Keys to Aging Well. Eldering is a perspective that sees aging and the final years of life as another stage of development in our life experiences. Rev. Robert Brumet has written the first chapter of this booklet on eldering that I share with you in a condensed version.

Rev. Brumet looks at our life in four directions: looking back, looking forward, looking outward, and looking inward. Looking back, we harvest our life experiences, both the wheat and the tares. We see the ways the world is a better place because we have lived. We also face regrets and disappointments. It is important for the well-being of the soul that we forgive these and let them go.

Looking forward means accepting the inevitability of our death, the acknowledgment that all physical beings will die. It includes making legal and financial arrangements and providing loved ones with critical information they will need after our passing.

Looking outward involves finding community and developing a sense of connection to others. Those who have meaningful social connections tend to live longer than those who do not.

Looking inward is the most essential aspect of eldering. No longer do we identify with social and professional roles or the body you had as a younger adult.

Now, as you transition from “role” to “soul,” you no longer say, “I am this or I am that.” You can now truly say, “I am that I am.”

Again, this is a condensed version of Rev. Robert Brumet, and I encourage reading the entire booklet, which has much more content.

Unity cofounder Myrtle Fillmore believed that age was a state of mind, and legendary author Eric Butterworth said in his 80s that his age was none of his business: “I am as old as God and as young as the morning.” I’ll have some of that!

Activities: No church service at the Arts & Crafts Room until Sept. 10. Rev. Jeanne will provide her lesson on YouTube.

Reiki: Meets in Room A-2 of the Cottonwood clubhouse every Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. To join on Zoom, email [email protected], so he can put you on our Zoom list.

Prayer Partners: Meets Wednesday at 10 a.m. on Zoom. To join, email Julia at [email protected] and she will add you to the list for Zoom.

Website: unityofsunlakes.org