Jesus says: “You shall have life and live it more abundantly” (John 10:10).
One of the teachers of the law came and [asked Jesus], “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:28ff.)
On Saturday night 21st April I had the privilege of being the guest speaker at Hornsby Uniting Church’s dinner. I chose to speak on the topic: “Ageing well: Living life more abundantly”. This is a direct quote from Jesus.
But how can we age well? How can we live life more abundantly? Is there anything we can do to prevent dementia?
Jesus’ answers the first two questions, and the third logically follows. When Jesus is asked to sum up the whole law, He says: “Love the LORD your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and love your neighbour as you love yourself”.
How can we age well? How can we live life more abundantly? By living out these two Great Commandments! Because they sum up our whole life:
Love the Lord your God with all:
Your heart Physical
Your Soul Spiritual and Emotional
Your mind Intellectual
Your Strength The strength of all 3
&
Love your neighbour Social and Service
as you love yourself Honour yourself (Self-care).
How can we age well? How can we live life more abundantly? By living out these two Great Commandments! We need to look after our Physical, Spiritual, Emotional and Intellectual health. We need to keep Social and engage in meaningful Service. We need to Honour Ourselves. In future posts I’ll look at those seven items. Stay tuned!
Regardless of whether we’re young, or young at heart, ageing well NOW has a great effect on the last part of your life.
As an Aged Care Chaplain my passion is Dementia. I am privileged to teach people in different Churches about dementia through Discussing Dementia. I am currently doing the Bachelor of Dementia Care degree through the University of Tasmania. I also try and keep up-to-date with the latest dementia news.
You may not know that dementia is the 2nd leading cause of death in Australia, and the leading cause for women! Dementia is incurable and fatal, but it’s not inevitable and it can be delayed.
There are a number of Risk Factors for dementia that experts believe can reduce our risk of having dementia by 35%. What are they? You’ll have to wait for my next blog post to find out!
In the meantime, keep the Commandments! Age well. Live life more abundantly. Honour God, honour your neighbour, and don’t forget to honour yourself.
With blessings,
