Setting an example

At church on Sunday, the talk was given by the delightful Mary Pytches. Aside from the interesting content, she also has one of the best speaking voices I've ever heard - a proper Jackanory voice if you are old enough to remember that! - and I could quite happily listen to her for hours.
Mary's talk was on prayer and while mulling it over this morning, it struck me that one of the reasons that her words resonate and sink in, is that she has the experience to back it up. You know that she has lived a life saturated in prayer which caused me to question at what point will I be an inspiration like that, if ever? We live in age where so often our only source of advice and counsel is our peers, and in some situations there is nothing wrong with that, however there are times when I long to hear wisdom that is borne of more experience than mine. To often the focus of my generation is at odds with my desire for a more centered spiritual journey.
In my late 30s, I am well positioned to provide insight for people younger than myself but there is a yearning in me to go to a deeper place so that I have more to give. An excellent series has just finished on BBC2 - The Big Silence - which followed Abbot Christopher Jamison, a Benedictine monk, in his mission to teach five ordinary people the value of silent meditation, so they can make it part of their everyday lives.
I only managed to catch a few parts of it but it left me hungry to introduce a more meditative approach to prayer and bible reading. I wonder if it's possible for me to be like the great uncle mentioned in the UCB notes recently. He renewed his driving licence at the age of 100 and when asked why he would need it, his reply was that someone needed to be able to drive the old folks around! If we immerse ourselves in God is this one of the results? That we are so nourished spiritually that it also feeds our physical being? Perhaps the answer is in Psalm 92 vs 13 (the righteous) They are like trees planted in the house of the Lord, that flourish in the Temple of our God, that still bear fruit in old age.
Contrary to worldly beliefs my best days are yet to come!