Living With Purpose In A Worn Out Body

by Missy Buchanan

Overview

Living With Purpose in a Worn-Out Body is an exploration of the inner life shared by many persons in nursing homes and retirement centers. With compassion and honesty, Buchanan gives voice to mingled feelings of loss, gratitude, resignation, courage, loneliness, and love. Each meditation moves from a particular challenge of the worn-out body to the larger perspective and the faithful response. Well-chosen passages from the Psalms mirror the speaker’s feelings, and exhortations from the New Testament stir hope. It becomes clear that “living with purpose” in old age is an extension of the challenges lived all along one’s years – learning to offer one’s will to God’s, trusting God’s grace to open up seemingly closed situations, and continuing to respond with the joy and fortitude of faith.

Most impressive is Buchanan’s ability to write from the perspective of a frail elderly person. She articulates what many older people will find hard to say, and in doing so offers them the strength and comfort of being understood. But read by family and caregivers, the meditations are piercing. Buchanan lets readers know the difficult feelings of those living an assisted life: the ambivalence about being alive so long, the struggle against self-pity, the loneliness and isolation, the frustrations of limited strength and movement. She also mines the joys of living: laughter among friends, seeing grandchildren grow up, sifting through happy memories. Living With Purpose is a comfort for those who are living out their last long years and a help for those who love and care for them.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780835899420
Publisher:	Upper Room Books
Publication date:	05/01/2008
Pages:	93
Sales rank:	78,414
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

Missy Buchanan is the author of two previous books, several articles and has been featured in numerous magazines, including Southern Living. She is a presenter of workshops and conferences for Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business, Mary Kay Cosmetics scientists, and the City of Plano, Texas. Buchanan is the Co-founder of Something to Celebrate, a business dedicated to helping women utilize their God-given creative gifts and has presented over 50 conferences and programs for women’s groups including many churches. Buchanan has made multiple appearances on national TV shows, including HGTV’s Smart Solutions and Lifetime TV’s Our Home. Missy Buchanan is the daily caregiver for her mother who resides in a senior living facility in the Dallas, Texas area.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments     9
What purpose, God?     11
Slow motion     13
Worrywart     15
Granddaughter     17
No holding back     19
Mail     21
Power chair     23
Late-in-life friends     25
I can't do it now     27
Pity party     29
Clutter     31
Life and death     33
Good night's sleep     35
Around the table     37
Ordinary days     39
Medicine bottles     41
Sin     43
Bingo     45
Just here     47
Whittled-down world     49
Forgotten     51
Laughter     53
Lifeline     55
Loss     57
Hope     59
Gift of long life     61
Tongue     63
Beginning a new day     65
Church     67
Not the end of the story     69
They do not understand     71
Sensible shoes     73
Shadow of death     75
Forgiveness     78
Music     80
Fear     82
Breathing     84
Legacy     86
Homesick     88
Doubts     90
Aging well     92
About the Author     94