This past week I heard an interesting news story on the BBC called “An Encore for Jesus”. The Eudists Servants of the Eleventh Hour are Catholic nuns who minister to prisoners in the La Mesa prison, located across the border in Tijuana, Mexico. The order consists of older women, 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and even now 80’s, who have dedicated the remainder of their time on this earth-their eleventh hour- to serving the poor. Many of the women have had full lives: married, mothers, career women. The founder of the order was a Hollywood socialite, twice-divorced and mother of seven. A very interesting person. Click here to read her obituary.

What has struck me is the resolve and hope these women have. Even now, women of a certain age are almost invisible in our youth-oriented society. For many older people, they have decided to give up on life’s purpose. I can certainly understand that: when one is tired or with ailments or limited due to a failing body, how does one help one another?

These women made drastic decisions. It was definitely a call. But for the rest of us, who might not have such a strong feeling of call, can there be something else for us in our eleventh, or tenth or even seventh hour?

I know that I have shared this before- both my grandmother and her sister were people who focused on what they could do, not on what they couldn’t. When their aging bodies began to fail them and they couldn’t do what they were used to doing, they both, in their own ways chose to do what they could. For my grandmother, when she gave up driving in her mid-80’s, (“Just a little fender bender, dear. I am thankful no one was hurt.”) she still planned trips to the homeless shelter to deliver her infamous lentil soup. She just had to rearrange her time to be able to use the senior bus for transportation. When her sister could no longer get out of her apartment, she still connected with others in her church. Up to her dying days, she faithfully called “the shut-ins” and would pray for them over the phone.

Their hutzpah in the face of failing bodies have always encouraged me. When I start feeling down about any situation- those little things that just don’t go according to plan or the way they used to be- I remember Gram and Aunt Eunice and their focus on what could be done.

I am fascinated with visual art, artists and their creative processes. I especially am encouraged when I read about artists who continue to work well into their 70’s and 80’s.

Claude Monet worked to the end of his life, adapting his painting and experimenting with different techniques. When he was in his 60’s he started having difficulty with his eyesight and experimented with more “muddied” yellow and purple tones. Eventually he was diagnosed with nuclear cataracts in 1912 when he was 72. He knew that fellow artist Mary Cassatt had had cataract surgery so he decided to do so. He had the operation on his right eye in 1923 but still had some difficulty. While that surgery allowed him to see blues and violets better, he refused to have his left eye operated and so that remained a dense yellow cataract. He could never quite see the difference in color perception and acuity. To correct that, he maintained a set order of pigments on his palette. relying on the order rather than his eyes. His work in those late years, reflects his color perceptions. He didn’t give up painting but did so in a different way.

Henri Mattise also did not let ailments and age stop him from creating works of art. In 1941 he had abdominal surgery for intestinal cancer. Sadly, his post surgical recovery was filled with complications, namely the loss of the use of abdominal muscles which impacted his standing and thus his normal way of painting. Being wheel-chaired bound he started cutting out pieces of paper to create artistic collages.

Both these giants in the field of Impressionism could have stopped painting and relaxed in their later years but they continued to work, adapting and doing what they could.

What about you? Do you have a purpose in life? What is it? Do your feel that purpose is finished? Nothing left for you to do? What can you adapt in order to either continue your purpose or develop a new one?

Monet painted his famous Water Lilies during this last period in his life. If he had given up on his purpose in life, the world would be a sadder, less colorful place for it.

The nuns of Mexico are a great reminder that until we take our last breath, God isn’t finished with us yet. If we are open and willing to listen to His call, there is still purpose in our lives. It might be hard to see it at first, but if we keep our hearts open and humbly ask, God will show us opportunities to use our current gifts and talents in new and different ways.