Aging Matters: Finding Your Calling for the Rest of Your Life, by R. Paul Stevens

Book Summary and Reflection This is my second time reading Aging Matters. I first read it in 2020, but I don't remember reading it. After seeing a quote in another book, and checking it out on Amazon, I was surprised to find I owned it. My immediate reaction was I'd bought it and not read. Imagine my shock to find nearly 10% of the book was highlighted and I'd recorded it on my book blog—it had obviously struck a chord. As I reread, I found myself thinking more than a few times, "Ha, so this is where I got that idea!" The truths in these pages have quietly shaped my thinking, my teaching, and some decisions—without me realizing how deeply they'd taken root. I've read a few of Steven's books. He was a very early author in the Theology of Work space. As Cathy and I have downsized a few things, including my physical library, I've kept all of Stevens's books. The kids will have to decide what to do with them! I believe it was C.S. Lewis that said a book wasn't truly read until it'd been read twice. Reading it this time around was a bit of an echo, and it helped clarify. From the book…… R. Paul Stevens challenges the cultural script that aging equals retirement from meaning. Instead, he calls us to renewed vocation in later life. Work is not merely paid employment; it is creative, relational, and redemptive participation in God's world. At every age, our calling is to: Belong to God through communion and intimacy, Live righteously by becoming more like Christ, Serve others through presence, purpose, and faithfulness. Calling doesn't expire—it evolves. It deepens. It finds fresh forms. The invitation from God is ongoing: join Him in what He's doing. Aging itself becomes a spiritual discipline. Stevens describes three invitations: Intensification – a move toward inner stillness and depth. Simplification – a shedding of excess and a focus on what matters. Heavenly-mindedness – seeing life with eternal perspective. In this stage, we confront the vices of aging—like bitterness or resignation—and are invited to cultivate the virtues of late life: faith, hope, and love. These are not automatic. They are forged in the fires of surrender, perseverance, and grace. Stevens redefines legacy: it's not about leaving something behind, but about passing something forward. It's not just financial—it's spiritual, relational, and eternal. He encourages us to: Review life with honesty and grace. Practice progressive relinquishment of roles, control, and even identity. Prepare for death with peace, not fear. The real question isn't, What did you accomplish? It's, Did you live faithfully with what God gave you? Personal Takeaway A lot has happened since I first read Aging. I made it 19 miles in my first marathon attempt. I completed Goggins' 4x4x48 Challenge, finished the 75 Hard Challenge, and did 1,000 pushups in 18 hours. I had a quintuple bypass. And I turned 70. And, most importantly, I seem to have slowly discovered some things about myself and my calling in what Steven's calls the third-third of life. Reading Aging Matters again now, and especially in this discover stage I realize I've been in, doesn't feel like coincidence. It feels like divine timing—like this book showed up again because it still has work to do in me. It was strange laying in that hospital bed two years ago and realizing I'd been reading Gary Black's Preparing for Heaven. Black and Stevens has helped me see aging as more than survival, though that's what it feels like some days. Aging is a calling to try to live intentionally, to try to love deeply, and to try leave a decent legacy. But, finishing well isn't about being remembered—it's about being faithful. I'm afraid one of the hardest things I will have done is to be able to say "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4:7) and to hear "well done, good and faithful servant" (Luke 19:17). "Train hard, every day" isn't just for the physical part of our being. To that end….. Danny Entrepreneur's Journey Originally posted at  https://dannylsmith.substack.com/p/book-summary-and-reflection-aging