“Lord, help me to age gracefully and to have a thankful and joy-filled heart all my remaining days. Amen.”
Recently, a new phrase popped into my head, “the tyranny of aging.” This morning I got a taste of “the tyranny of aging” at work. It seems the clock beside my bed is in cahoots with the aging process as it ticks away the hours, minutes, and seconds to some inevitable end. The aches and pains of the body signal in agreement. The violent sound of an alarm ignores my body’s plea for one more hour of sleep. After all, I am 84 years old and that is a good excuse for sleeping in and sloughing off work, isn’t it? Ha, ha… But what does God think about aging?
Aging doesn’t seem to be a problem for God. He is called “the Ancient of Days.” Seth, the third son of Adam and Eve, lived to be 912 years old; Noah, 950 years; Methuselah, Noah’s grandfather and the oldest man in the Bible, 969 years. There were other oldsters such as Sarah who was 90 and Abraham who was 100 years old when their son Isaac was born. God called to Moses out of the burning bush when Moses was 80 years old. Anna, a widow of 84 years, gave thanks to God when Mary and Joseph brought baby Jesus to the temple for purification rites. Each one played a significant part in God’s salvation story.
“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:26).
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16).
Is aging a blessing or a curse? How would you vote?
Most older people can identify with the “curses” of aging. Can you name some benefits?
Health update: My EKG taken last month looked normal “for someone my age”! Thank you, Lord!
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