As I get
older, I wonder how it will be for me as an elderly person. Will I remember my
blessings – not just the ones I have at that moment, but the ones I learned
about as a child, disregarded as a youth and embraced as a Christian adult?
I know that when
Abraham’s wife Sarai was told that she would bear a child in her old age, she
laughed. I think that it wasn’t so much that she doubted God’s ability; she just
thought that her years for becoming a mother were over and her blessings would
be more in line with her age. I know how she feels. I no longer pray to make it
through an exam, find the right husband or for healthy children. Some mornings,
all I pray for is my joints to quit aching, my sagging body parts to perk up
and my wrinkled skin to become smooth.
I look in
the mirror with my reduced vision and see gray hair (ok – it’s colored but we
all know it is still gray.) wrinkles at my eyes (I can kid myself all I
want…they are not laugh lines) and my fluffy old body (because the word FAT is
just so ugly!)
God blesses
the gray haired, but he knows my altered color is just a human desire to be less
self-conscious when I am facing adversity or making choices. God sees my
wrinkles as marks for every year of life He gave me to embrace, every problem
He made small, every trial He had me face and gently encouraged me through. God
sees my fluffitude as a reflection of the nourishment He has provided me. Its a
revelation that I need to recognize and use the gift of self-control He so
generously makes available to me through the Holy Spirit.
God sees that
my eyes may be near sighted but He made them that way so that I see clearer the
world around me and not be looking to the horizon for something better. We get
older every day – that is inevitable. But in God’s eyes, seeing age as a
physical malady is just incomprehensible.
God still
sees fit for me to start new endeavors that I think of as “young person’s”
activities. He has selected me for a specific purpose, and my attitude at this
time is to wonder what it is, what I can do to achieve it and how it will
affect me. The youthful attitude would be to just go with it, trusting that God
will guide me to the correct finish.
The main
thing I have to remember is this: God has put me exactly where I should be; how
I should be; when I should be.
Whatever our
age, those years give us experience – knowledge that surpasses that of a younger
person. Our age gives us strength of spirit – determination to be true to the
faith we have worked to grow over the years. Our age gives us laughter – the
ability to see joy and promise in every situation because we have been through
so much.
There is also
a reason that at any age we are not called adults, middle agers, or elderlies
of God…we are Children of God. Like a small child on the first day of school…a
teenager starting high school or college…an adult starting a new life, we
should be excited about each day. When we rise, we should be hopeful for a
satisfying conclusion to the day. When we settle to sleep, we should be thankful
for whatever happened, readying ourselves for the days to come.
So I am
throwing my age aside – I am going to laugh at my frailties and encourage
others to do the same. I’m going to move my arthritic joints and dance with
gusto…I’m going to forget my self-consciousness and praise from my heart and I
am going to laugh till everyone thinks that my wrinkles really are laugh lines.
God sees
promise in us, from our first day to our last…no matter how many days there are
between. Each new day is a gift to open – each day passed is a gift enjoyed –
each future day is a gift to anticipate.
With God
blessing us, every day is like Christmas and like children, celebrating Christmas
is a really good thing any day.
