At the End of the Day: Enjoying Life in the Departure Lounge

by David Winter

An octogenarian takes a wryly humorous look at what it's like to be old in an era of the relentlessly new. Turning to the Bible, he explores its store of timeless wisdom, encouragement and reassurance about what it has always meant to grow old and be old. The book is structured around a series of fascinating biblical pictures, from the legendary Methuselah to the feisty Sarah and the great leader Moses, from the picture of inevitable decline as the Preacher saw it in Ecclesiastes to the glorious Nunc Dimittis of old Simeon in the Temple. 'At the end of the day' is a well-worn phrase - yet seeing life as a single day, with dawn, noon, sunny afternoon, twilight and then darkness and sleep, provides a sort of contracted chronology of a journey we are all taking. Those who are at, or beyond, tea-time - as well as their friends and family - may find this book offers an essentially optimistic, positive and attractive picture of both the present and the future.

128 pages, Paperback

First published November 20, 2013

About the author

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Reviews

[Davidg · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't the book I was expecting. It started with a brief description of the author's stage in life. He mentions that faith might have a positive effect but says that this will come later in the book. I was surprised to turn the page and immediately be confronted with a biblical quote. The book then becomes less of a meditation on aging, as a series of bible studies. Some of the themes are crowbarred in.

I was hoping for reflections on aging with, hopefully, a positive outlook. I found the bible studies less helpful, though the aged perspective could be interesting.