Concentric Circles In Reverse

I watched them in the grocery store.
Wrinkled skin, posture less than straight, gait a little slower.
He was pushing the cart while she held on.

Do we need cereal? What is the kind I like that comes in the orange box?
She answered something unrecognizable and he kept talking and asking her questions.
She was taking a long time to process what he was asking her.

He didn’t mind; he seemed used to this.
He was the one doing the shopping.
She just came along; an outing.

I wish I had known them then.
Before the wrinkles, and the posture, and the gait.
They were so beautiful together.

I imagined how it must have been.
Food shop together?
Not on your life!

That was her job.
She took care of the inside of the house; he took care of the outside.
She had her jobs; he had his.

Life has a funny way of changing things.
Things you never thought you would ever do, you begin to do out of necessity.
Food shop together?
Absolutely.

Concentric circles in reverse.

Remember the mazes you did as a child?
You started on the outer line and worked your way in towards the center.
Some people could visualize the result in their mind’s eye.
Others, like me, had to trace the path with my finger or pencil.

You started on the outside.
You ended up, through a circular journey, in the center.
The rings got smaller and smaller as you got further in.

Much like this couple.
They began their life together young, in good health, independent.
As they aged, their circles got smaller and smaller as they journeyed towards the middle.
So small, that now they just had each other to lean on.

Concentric circles in reverse.

In the hubris of youth, you never dream your life could get so small.
You will be young and active forever.
You will retain your independence well into your old age.

Maybe.
Maybe not.

Hollywood love, immature love, believes this to be true.
Wrinkles are airbrushed away.
Posture is strengthened and straightened by yoga or the newest craze.
Gait remains quick and strong.

Not so in life.
How do we prepare for the center circle we will inevitably face?

This older gentleman cared for his wife with a tender sweetness.
You could see her beauty even though she looked much different now.
You could see his great love and compassion.

She was not who she once was, but then neither was he.
She was slower and a bit more frustrating, but he has learned patience.
She was leaning on him, as she had in the past, as she needed to now.

Their circles were getting smaller.

Children seem to be opposite.
They begin their life in the center, in the smallest circle.
They grow and venture out, expanding, growing,

They have wings to fly.
They are anxious to spread those wings.
They are anxious to move away from the center.

Then, it inevitably happens to them, as it happens to all of us.
Reversal.
The rings get smaller as they travel back towards the center.

They can’t see it now, from their far away vantage point.
They will see it soon enough as they realize that reversal happens.
Often quicker than you can ever imagine.

Grow old with me! The best is yet to be, the last of life, for which the first was made. Our times are in His hand who saith, A whole I planned, youth shows but half; Trust God: See all, nor be afraid! (Robert Browning)

This couple epitomized this verse.
The best is yet to be, together, as they traveled towards the center.

It is the unknown that waits for us as our circles get smaller, that makes us afraid.
It doesn’t have to be that way.
There is surety in the Center.
For in the Center is God.

God is there in each of the circles.
God is there as we begin.
God is there as we travel.
God is there in the center, at the end.

How sad that many travel their circles aimlessly, fearfully, unsure of what awaits them.
It doesn’t have to be that way.

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. (Romans 1:20)

Men are without excuse.
God, in the center, makes Himself known.
The path is not a maze, but a certainty.

However, not all travelers will end with God in their center.
Those people do have reason to fear what awaits them.
It is never too late!

See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. (Hebrews 3:12-14)

In Christ, we can have confidence that we will see Him when we reach the center.
Concentric circles in reverse are no reason to fear.
God is there.

Make sure, as long as it is Today, that you are in Christ, and He is your Center.