Aging

6/22/2017

Aging.

It gets no thought from the young - until it has happened. Looking at others and judging is the normal response of the young. “It will never happen to me.”

To those who are aging, it often seems a cruel and unnecessary joke.

Is it? Is aging a cruel joke?

Skin becomes crinkled paper, eyesight becomes foggy and diminished, hair loss or change is inevitable, vanity of appearance is no longer possible or rational, and there are surprising memory glitches. VO2 max and fast twitch muscles that are natural in youth - leave without fanfare or warning or reason - and nothing whatsoever can be done. The strange inflexibility and pain, and the energy loss seem inexplicable and irrevocable.

Why?

Is aging cruel?

Do the consequences of aging ...matter?

HERE IS THE GOOD NEWS, THE RIGHT PERSPECTIVE...

Aging and its consequences only matter if we consider ourselves “owners” of something, anything. ARE we owners of ourselves, or of our futures. Owners? Really?

Maybe we need the unarguable reminder, the continual daily painful mnemonic that it is TIME for succession planning, for committed sacrificial apprenticeship... it is TIME for the absolute passing of the Torch... to the humble or shy or reluctant, or the shallowly preoccupied “next generation.”

We’re not “owners.” JESUS owns all.

If we acknowledge this JESUS ownership of all, even from our youth, we won’t resent change, or make accusations of “unfair” as the autumn winds blow.

Today and all days... we can DO OUR BEST, and go with the flow. Jesus Knows how it all should go.

HOW SHOULD WE VIEW AGING?

Should we give up? Must WE? Should we tolerate self-whining? Should we limp and pull back because it’s hard? No. You know better. We know better. Caleb at age 80... “I WANT TO ATTACK THAT MOUNTAIN - THE ONE WITH THE GIANTS!”

It’s not an accident that we’re referred to as the human RACE. It’s not an accident that several times the Holy Spirit used the analogy of a foot race to describe the course of our lives.

In a foot race, ROUNDING THE LAST TURN is not “bad.”

The final turn into the final straightaway... is the last opportunity to LEAN INTO that turn, to stomp on the accelerator and make a difference.

DO THAT.

Happy birthday, y’all.