May You Stay Forever Young

May God bless and keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young. from “Forever Young” by Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan was a gifted and prolific poet and musician, and the lyrics of this song are very touching. What a lovely prayer to pray for another and what an open minded and open-hearted individual it was that penned those lovely lines. The words are a prayer, a wish, a hope that the reader or listener will be blessed by the Eternal always. There is no greater prayer that we can pray for ourselves or another.

I love all the lines but want to focus for the moment on the line, “may you stay forever young.” We usually look at our lives in terms of birth years. Many of us use that number to determine how we will live and feel. For instance, “I will have the health and vitality of a 72-year-old today,” without even considering whether we could have the health and vitality of someone decades younger. Our attitude can make all the difference.

I remember my mother-in-law saying that she was able to climb the steep stairs at her farmhouse in her eighties, but her mother had ceased to climb them in her early sixties. Sometimes there are health related issues but many times, it is simply our frame of mind. We may just say, “I’m too old for that,” but I know that many of us feel the same health and vitality that we did decades ago.

One of the most important things we can do is to remain open minded. How sad it is to see people who are set in their ways and forever criticizing younger people and the changes that they are bringing. What if, instead, we embraced change and evolution and allowed ourselves to continue growing in knowledge, wisdom, and understanding? What if we decided to embrace the youthful exuberance and joy of being alive in this glorious and ever-evolving universe?

May each of us retain the love and openness of an innocent child that has not been scarred by the barbs in life. May we forgive and move onward in the most loving, youthful way possible. May our hearts be open, may our minds always be fixed upon a dream or a star, may we stay forever young. Lovingly, RevJ