Senior Living Blog by UMH

Jim Stinson

I first became an ordained member of the New York Conference of the United Methodist Church fifty years ago. Through my time with the pastoral ministry, I worked extensively with older adults, many of whom were members of my congregation. I also served as the Director of Spiritual Life for United Methodist Homes from July 2002 until my retirement in July 2015, providing guidance and support to residents, family members, and staff. I love reminding people that “old” is not a dirty word and encourage others to adopt a healthy perspective on aging. I am also the author of a book, Just Because I Am Old – A Practical and Theological Guide To Caring, which was recently published in 2014.

Aging & Caregiving | assisted living

The Waiting Game

By: Jim Stinson July 15th, 2014

By Jim Stinson, Director of Spiritual Life for United Methodist Homes

Aging & Caregiving | assisted living

The Luna Moth

By: Jim Stinson June 5th, 2014

By, Reverend Jim Stinson, Director of Spiritual Life for United Methodist Homes

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Aging & Caregiving | assisted living

The Promise of Spring

By: Jim Stinson May 6th, 2014

By Reverend Jim Stinson, Director of Spiritual Life for United Methodist Homes The obvious thing to write about is spring! At least that was my thought when I sat down to write this blog.

Aging & Caregiving | assisted living

Teach Us To Measure Our Days…

By: Jim Stinson April 17th, 2014

Written by Reverend Jim Stinson, Director of Spiritual Life for United Methodist Homes and Consultant on Older Adult Ministry “My Days Are Numbered” “How did the visit to the doctor go today?” “Nothing is different that the last time, which means I’m still dying. I might not go back for my next appointment. What’s the use, my days are numbered anyway.” A discussion followed about the results of making that decision. If he was seeing the doctor, would the doctor still prescribe the medicine that was keeping him comfortable? Might something other than his current diagnosis pop up that the doctor might easily treat? And on it went! The conversation ended with an observation and a reference to scripture.

Coming to Terms with End of Life Issues

By: Jim Stinson March 11th, 2014

By Jim Stinson, Director of Spiritual Life

The Real Gifts of Aging

By: Jim Stinson February 25th, 2014

By Jim Stinson, Director of Spiritual Life for UMH

The Secret to Selecting a Senior Living Community

By: Jim Stinson January 17th, 2014

By: Reverend Jim Stinson, Director of Spiritual Life for United Methodist Homes A Familiar Story I’ve made more friends here now than I have in years. My world was shrinking as I aged. Friends and family members were moving to be near family members.

The Value of Stories

By: Jim Stinson December 5th, 2013

A Blog by Jim Stinson, Director of Spiritual Life for United Methodist Homes “Do you Remember when, Grandma…?” As my family was waiting for Thanksgiving dinner to be ready they were doing what most families do at holiday time. They were reminiscing. Since “Grandma” always lived with us she was a source of many memories, especially as she grew older and had ever-greater senility. No one was ever sure what she would say or when she would say it.

“Angry Old Ladies” & “Cranky Old Men”

By: Jim Stinson November 9th, 2013

Caring for a Loved One with Depression By: Jim Stinson, Director of Spiritual Life for United Methodist Homes The Reality of Aging In her mid-eighties, not given to morose thoughts and always life affirming, my mother startled me one day with her comment. She said, “I know more people up there than I do down here.” She gestured toward the sky as she said “up there” and toward the ground as she said “down here” making sure I got the point she wanted to make. Now while I could argue with her cosmology about the location of heaven, I could not argue with her observation. The fact was she had outlived most of her family of origin; and she had outlived most of her friends. Indeed her life had changed dramatically over the previous decade. Her friends were dying with increasing frequency, as were her children and their spouses. She was speaking to a reality of aging. If we live long enough we inevitably watch many of our loved ones and friends die. “Angry Old Ladies” and “Cranky Old Men” This fact can, and often does lead to depression, an often overlooked and under diagnosed illness, among the aging. When it is overlooked and under diagnosed we are often confronted with older adults who exhibit behaviors we would recognize more readily in younger people. We meet “angry old ladies,” “cranky old men,” older adults who “just sit home and do nothing,” mothers and fathers who “do nothing to help themselves,” and so on. When we deal with these people we discover how difficult it is to care for them. In fact we often tell ourselves “there is no talking to them, they just don’t want to be different,” and other self-protecting reasons not to try.

The Difference Between Age and Maturity

By: Jim Stinson September 30th, 2013

And The Mountains Echoed is a fascinating and disturbing novel by Khalem Hosseni, author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns. In heart wrenching detail, he tells the story of a family from Afghanistan over a sixty-year period, each one of who continue to be affected by decisions made in earlier generations. It is a sometimes-grim reminder that, while we are free to alter our responses to the events of our lives, thus changing ourselves in some real way, we are always to some extent the product of our past.

Healthy Aging at United Methodist Homes: Live to be 120!

By: Jim Stinson August 9th, 2013

“May You Live to Be 120!” Written by Guest Blogger, Jim Stinson, Director of Spiritual Life (United Methodist Homes) “May you live to be 120!” This traditional Jewish birthday blessing comes from the book of Genesis (6:3). The Lord said, ‘My spirit shall not abide in mortals forever, for they are flesh; their days shall be one hundred and twenty years.’ There was a time when this wish was at best a metaphor and, at worst, trite and meaningless. The likelihood of living that long is still not reality for most of us, but it is increasingly more within the realm of possibility. We now have centenarians as an ever-growing segment of our population. Is this a good thing? Is it a bad thing? Would you want to live that long?