Aging With Grace
“Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.”
~2 Corinthians 4:16, NASB
What is old age but a receptacle of all maladies?
~Lewis Bayly
I am a forty-niner so I turned 77 a few days ago. I must say before I get into the heart of the blog that life is very brief and I find it hard to believe that I am 77. Bayly’s quote above is true, our bodies are receptacles of various maladies {diseases, illness, and deep-seated ailments, aches and pains}. It is one of the many consequences to Adam’s transgression: our bodies age, wear out and decay. Unfortunately some folks don’t get it; they have this crazy notion that they can defeat aging and these same people make attractiveness their god. Nothing is more important to them than how they look. They spend lot of money in their attempt to stay young and pretty. We have all seen movie stars become freaks from multiple plastic surgeries. When you get my age, you have more skin than you do neck or face. My skin is thin. I bumped into the door facing coming out of the bath room Sunday and it broke the skin and I started bleeding. But that is not my concern. I am more concerned about the right knee that aches; the right shoulder that hurts when I move certain ways; the high blood pressure and the four day headaches: this should be enough to convince you that aging is not for sissys. There is nothing you can do about aging. Make-up will not stop it, workouts will not stop it, a convertible sports car will not stop it, face lifts will not stop it, nor will blow drying your chest hair and leaving your top button undone.
Now for the benefits of being old. There are some things that young people can do that senior can’t: like jump out of the back of a pickup. But there are things senior citizens can do that young people find it very difficult to do. There may be some rare exceptions but as a general rule, young people cannot be content. They have a gigantic “Wanter”. They want the latest I-Phone; they want a hotel size house; and two to twelve vacations a year. They want to go here—they want to go there—always on the go. If you say “why not stay home tonight and rest,” they will say, “that is boring.” It is not boring to me—it is glorious. Young people have a hard time being thankful. Instead of being thankful for what they have, they tend to focus on what they do not have. Young people are more susceptible to the seduction of the world. They don’t think much about heaven. Their thoughts are focused on this earth. Time will help with all of these problems. Let me tell you, I was young once and I wanted everything: land, big house, success, wealth, etc. Time and grace have brought healing.
Sooner or later, the aging process should crush all our sensual idols and bring us to the understanding that this world is not our home. We stop focusing on health and wealth {work and work-outs} and focus on spiritual growth. Our devotional life gets deeper and we enjoy it more. We stop worrying about success and focus on being significant. We get concerned about the impression we are leaving on our grandchildren. We don’t want them saying, after we are gone— “All daddy/granddaddy thought about was money.” We want to create positive memories that will inspire them through life.
I am doing exactly what I promised myself I would not do….publishing a long blog, but there is one more thing I have to say: Why is being a grandparent easier than being a parent? A complete answer would take too long; plus I lack the insight but I can tell you one reason is that we slow down as we get older. We rushed and pushed with out kids but we don’t do that with the grands, do we? No, we give them what they want the most: TIME. That is how a child spells love: TIME. We make them our priority and they know it. A second reason is that we learn form our mistakes. To be honest with you, I love being old {except for the aches and pains}.
- Mid-week Bible Study tomorrow night at 6:00. James 5 and the OPPRESSION of the rich and the response of the poor.
- 49er Feast August 28 @ 11:30
- Outdoor Church September 5 @ 8:00
- Wycliffe Word To the World Sunday September 16
- Cooler this morning: PTL
I hope you have a great day and thanks for reading the blog!