The Beauty of Boundaries

Earlier this week, I began both occupational and physical therapy. I am so blessed to be home or housebound, which qualifies me to have therapists come to me. It’s not a big deal to some. Still, without reliable transportation and terrible eyesight, I quickly qualified and now receive a lot of help at home and my appointments with my specialist via Zoom.

Initially, I balked at the term housebound, envisioning a total prisoner of my couch, forbidden to move beyond the lobby or the trash receptacles outside. I knew better, but the term turned me off. I am just acquainting myself with the term “fall risk” and wearing a band that identifies me as a Type 2 Diabetic and a thing plugged into my skin that measures my blood sugar regularly.

As each cheerful therapist arrived at my door with their “bag O Tricks,” happily guiding me through the movements designed to “open” my spine, cater to my lumbar disc disturbance, and perhaps restore some semblance of my former self, I thought about how I used to be the one who brought many exercises to my current senior community.

Less than ten years ago, I floated down the stairs like Ginger Rogers, urging my peers to join me in getting the kinks out and living a little. I was in my late sixties and full of pepper. There were those my age who said, “No way,” and “You go right ahead.”

I led groups advising my peer sisters not to lean over their walkers because it would cause permanent damage. I was getting certified in the gentle movements of Tai Je Chaun so I could further help others understand the importance of keeping in motion. Most of my peers looked at me and shook their heads. “This woman must be crazy” were the looks I got, and to tell the truth, I became pretty discouraged.

So, sitting in my kitchen chair while a therapist who looked as if they were twelve years old showed me how to bend, stretch, and make it happen threw me into a category I never dreamed I would join. However, God has many surprises for us late in life if we are willing to pull our heads out of our turtle-necked world and look around.

One of my newest audiobooks is titled “The Gift of Limitations,” Finding Beauty in Your Boundaries by Sara Hagerty. It’s not a book specifically written or spoken just for seniors. Still, it covers a lot of territory for many who are overwhelmed by change and stagnating under their “suddenlies” rather than growing.

The narrator has a wonderfully calming voice and speaks about how God will often limit us as He helps us grow, and what we think we should be doing is not always according to His plan. I love the parts where I am reminded that His plan does not come under the heading of “What Zenobia thinks should happen next.”

At this age (seventy-seven on October 26), I thought I would STILL be working in social services as a venerable and lovable office dweller, with photos of my great-grand and places I have traveled on my work desk. I would still be invited to speak in churches, and I would have all my friends from the old days with whom I would sit and reminisce.

In a few short years, not one or two, but all of my close sister friends have passed away, siblings and some of my adult children have passed away, and many things familiar to many of us have changed or are no longer available. The physical impairments I mentioned before were not in excess but were gaining on me not annually, but some, including troubling hospital stays, were nearly every three months. Right now, I might not have made it without the prayers of friends (God keeps supplying NEW ones) and the fact that His grace and mercy are new each day.

My faith, though strong, has been tested repeatedly, and I must say to one and all that there is a blessing in each lesson.

God sometimes sets boundaries and limitations to help us grow as stronger believers and closer to Him. I am thankful for my housebound status. I can now evangelize through social media, volunteer virtually, and even enjoy the connections I have made here on Put Old On Hold. I am thankful, grateful, and blessed.

If you feel limited or not as useful now or aging makes you feel isolated and alone, just think of the work God is doing in you. The greater for us is always His promise if we receive it by faith. Go ahead! Take that leap! Thank God for your boundaries; within them, you can find new life and a brand new purpose!