GROWING OLD GRACEFULLY

Realistic Expectations

Do you find yourself glancing at obituaries to see how many friends and acquaintances may be listed? The accumulation of years does have an inexorable effect on our bodies. The older body doesn’t “bounce back” from an injury, illness or even a simple strain as it once did, so we may struggle with health challenges. In Ecclesiastes 12 Solomon went on to say, “Your body will grow feeble, your teeth will decay, and your eyesight fail” (verse 3, CEV). Some things do become more challenging with arthritis, loss of mobility, diminished eyesight and even a need for false teeth. “The noisy grinding of grain will be shut out by your deaf ears, but even the song of a bird will keep you awake” (verse 4, CEV). Hearing problems don’t guarantee sound sleep! “You will be afraid to climb up a hill or walk down a road. Your hair will turn as white as almond blossoms. You will feel lifeless and drag along like an old grasshopper. We each go to our eternal home, and the streets are filled with those who mourn” (verse 5, CEV). The human body was never designed to live forever, and we all will advance through these stages as we proceed toward the end of our lives. Along with all the other changes, even our hair changes—if it doesn’t turn white, it turns loose! All of these factors and more mean that, in order to age with grace and dignity, we will need to have realistic expectations of ourselves. We will need to gradually curtail heavy physical activities and will have to be more careful driving after dark—or perhaps give up driving altogether. While our expectations must change, this does not mean we cannot live satisfying and beneficial lives!

Aging Heroes Of Faith

The Bible contains many stories of righteous people who continued serving God even in old age. The patriarch Isaac, as he came toward the end of his life, was inspired by God to do something powerful and deeply meaningful. In the tradition of the time, he wanted to pronounce a blessing on his eldest son (Genesis 27:1-2,Genesis 27:21-22). The blessing of children like this was intended to be encouraging for the family, and it also carried with it a legal implication regarding control of property and possessions. Although Isaac was blind and deceived by his younger son, God caused this particular blessing to confer prophetic blessings on the descendants of these men that would impact the world all the way down to our time today!

Many years later Jacob found himself nearing the end of his days on earth. He and his entire family moved to Egypt during a terrible famine; and upon meeting Pharaoh, he was asked, “How old are you?” Jacob answered that he was 130 years old (Genesis 47:7-9). Since it was not uncommon for people at that time to live 130 years or much more, one has to wonder if Jacob looked older and wearier than his years would indicate. He also passed on prophetic blessings to his children— and to his grandchildren, Ephraim and Manasseh.

King David, a good king who was strong in his faith, reigned over Israel and Judah until the age of 70. As the years went by, David, who had always been a smart, valiant and powerful warrior, came to the point where he could no longer cope with the rigors of battle (2 Samuel 21:15-17). So he handed over those duties to others and concentrated his efforts on ruling the kingdom with righteousness and grace.

At the time of the birth of Jesus Christ, Anna the prophetess was active at the temple (Luke 2:3638). Various Bible commentators calculate her age as anywhere from 84 to 103 years old. At such an age, today we would expect her to be exempted from work. But she was still serving as best she could. With aging affecting our once youthful bodies and minds, how can we grow old gracefully? Scripture is encouraging in declaring, “They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing” (Psalm 92:14).

There Is Gold To Be Found In Old Age

It is important to keep a positive, even humorous, perspective on aging, because God designed our bodies to age. It’s not the act of a vengeful God, but of a loving God. And God wants us to continue to bear fruit. One of the biggest benefits of living many years is one that so many in our culture today overlook or dismiss. It’s the wisdom that comes from so much experience in life! As the old adage says, we need to learn from the mistakes of others, because we can’t possibly live long enough to make them all ourselves! With age comes wisdom and understanding to pass along to children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren—if only they will have the wisdom to stop and listen.

Also with those years of experience comes a new level of learning—or at least it should! Another old adage says that wisdom comes with age—but sometimes age comes all by itself. But age does not necessarily eclipse our ability to continue learning. The Bible is an inexhaustible mine of wisdom, and the more we study and understand, the deeper our understanding can go. We can

[continued on next page]