My Thoughts. . .

Monday, June 3, 2019

I’m not sure, but I believe there is a song, about a husband and wife’s love “growing old together”?  We do “grow old,” don’t we?  David spoke on the subject by penning, “ I have been young, and now am old” (Psalm 37:25 NKJV).  Moses, in the one Psalm he penned stated, “Seventy years are given us! And some may even live to eighty. But even the best of these years are often emptiness and pain; soon they disappear, and we are gone.”  (Psalm 90:10 TLB).  “Soon they disappear, and we are gone.”  Those words have more meaning as one passes that 80th summer.

Most of us can remember when we were in grade school and thought teenagers were old.  What about parents and grandparents?  We probably thought they had one foot on a banana peel and the other in the grave?  One thing was sure, we never imagined ourselves arriving at their age.  But here we are!  Once we asked, “Who are those old people?” Now we don’t ask, we know!

Age rewards us with new insights every day.  I still have my hair but some of my peers don’t remember where or when they lost theirs.  Even those who still retain some covering on their head have seen it change colors without getting it out of a bottle.  One reaches that time in life when getting down on the floor to play with the grandchildren is just as difficult as getting up.  “Snap, crackle, and pop” is heard before we arrive at the breakfast table.  Each day is a new adventure.  Doctor visits bore you with the same information being given, “At your age you can expect this”!  “This” happens to be whatever you went in to see him about.

For some, being on the backside of fifty doesn’t motivate them to think about eternity.  Oh, they may have God in mind, but in a derogatory way.  Their idea of life and beyond is that the first is too short and the second one doesn’t exist.  For them any religious thoughts are false crutches that burden the weak of mind and spirit.  Sadly, in some degree they are correct.

Some refer to themselves as “believers,” but view God as their tormentor, fulfilling His goal by being spiteful and hateful to them each day.  Others believe He has made eternal dwelling with Him possible if we can perform the impossible task of being perfect.  So, the frightened watch their failures end one day and wait to accomplish the same results the next.  They live each day with no assurance, no hope, and no joy.  Growing old has no rewards only a hopeless insight and fear of hearing, “Depart from me, I never knew you.”

I heard about a fellow who was suing his parents for “not getting his permission to be born.”  I’m not sure how that would be accomplished.  Some have heard of the atheist female who taught her son during his formative years that there was no God.  He was a disappointment to her.  He refused to follow her example and decided to become a Christian!  Someone has said that “an atheist is someone who is all dressed up with no place to go.”  The son didn’t want to live by that philosophy.  Guess which one enjoyed life more than the other?

Wisdom should come with age, but it never does for some.  David stated, “Getting wisdom is the most important thing you can do! And with your wisdom, develop common sense and good judgment.”  (Proverbs 4:7 TLB).  The Psalmist wrote, “Happy are those whose God is Jehovah” (Psalm 144:15 TLB).

How well are you growing old?