“We are all dying batteries.” Aren’t those the exact words you wanted to read this morning to start your day on a positive note? To be reminded that you are dying, that you are finite, that you have fewer days left in your life than ever? It’s not a fascination with morbidity that has me sharing these words, but an appreciation of the reality that life on this earth is limited, and how we choose to spend our time, whatever amount we have remaining, matters. This aspect of our humanity is currently at the forefront of my mind for several reasons: spending quality time with family over the holidays, investigating the role of artificial intelligence in our culture for an upcoming conference, pondering the need to help my students Take It Slow, and reading valuable insight from authors like Kelly Flanagan on the topic of Relational Equity.

In his book True Companionship, Flanagan shares several moments of discernment where his mind was awakened to how our sense of fragility changes depending on our age. It was a traffic sign containing the words “Go Elderly Slow” that led him to consider that “the pace of the world—both online and offline—has increased so dramatically…I decided right then and there I had a new ambition in life. I want to go Elderly Slow…I let myself attend to a truth we often try to ignore. We are all dying batteries.” Whether attending to his wife’s car battery or watching an elderly couple, Holding Hands, and progressing slowly across the path at a park, Flanagan encourages us to look closely at ordinary things because “one morning [will be] more fragile than all others, when there will be no waking.”

Now, for those of us who are engaging with Emerging Generations every day, sometimes we need reminders to go Elderly Slow because the pace of college life is so rapid. Accustomed to being the slow one, recognizing that my days of sideline stat-keeping are likely behind me, I was reminded while playing cards with my family this Christmas, that much of the world doesn’t operate at college-paced speeds. If I have time to visit the kitchen for a snack after discarding that black three and waiting for my next turn, that’s going Elderly Slow, and it’s completely fine. Go ahead and use the time while mom organizes a handful of cards to plan an entire 15-week semester in your mind…she’s going Elderly Slow.

Our human bodies might not provide clear audible messages like my vacuum cleaner, “please charge Roomba,” to know how much life is left in our battery, but God does provide us opportunities to enjoy the Ordinary Time we have whether that’s playing Canasta, listening to children giggle, or relishing the colorful oranges and purples of an amazing winter sunrise. These treasurable moments ask us to consider going Elderly Slow so that the beauty they provide is not lost because we were too task-focused to pay attention. It may take a while to finish the card game, but there’s a warm fireplace providing heat, perhaps a bowl football game or two on the television, and a loving family getting a little too competitive across the table but choosing to go Elderly Slow means the memories are cemented in the heart, even if no one can remember who dealt that hand!

Has there been a time when opting for an Elderly pace led to a cherished moment? Please consider sharing your story in the comments below as an encouragement to all of us to not rush through life.

Resources:

Flanagan, K. (2021). True companions: A book for everyone about the relationships that see us through. [Kindle version]. IVP Books.

Kapic, K.M. (2022). You’re only human: How your limits reflect God’s design and why that’s good news. Brazos Press.