Thoughts on Aging...

A curious thing... Perhaps you've already noticed it. Part of the aging process is wear and tear, accompanied by weariness and teariness. (Could there be a connection?) We mourn over the loss of youthful strength and energy. We ache and creak in the strangest places. Memories of long ago events come back in great detail. We not only remember our own feelings, but age and experience (hopefully,) have taught us to better understand what must have been the feelings of others. Our days and nights are spent with a new companion; his name? (Arthur Itis). Gray hair grows whiter and wrinkles appear. They make me wonder, where did the years go? Should my oldest child live her "allotted" years, (70 per the Bible,) she reached the half-way point (35) this year. My younger daughter is but one year behind. Wow! My oldest grandson will be twelve this summer!

Ah! and that brings me to one of the greatest blessings of growing older - grandparenting. Another generation... a bid into the future... a chance to pour a little something (perhaps hope and the strong belief in what can be,) into fresh minds and hearts. A chance to watch your children teach their children, realizing that much of what they're doing was learned at your knee. Sometimes that realization is rueful, sometimes it's overwhelming, and sometimes it humbles you to know how grateful you need to be to those who taught you. One thing is certain - it's a long line; it did not begin with me and it will not end with me.

The waning years have a purpose. I've had enough experience to know they too will fly by. This makes them all the more precious. While I'm here and while I have the strength, I have a charge to keep. It is to encourage those who are raising the next generation and bless their little ones with the chance to grow and develop their faith. It must be grounded in the Word of God. That's what kept our grandparents and our parents too. It's what gave us a plumbline by which to measure all our life experiences. It's able to keep our children on course, and it is the one sure thing we can give our grandchildren. It will carry them through all that the future holds and will still be true and sure when the time comes for them to teach their children and grandchildren - long after we're gone.

So as age does it's thing, as the hair grays and thins, as the bones creak and the strength grows weaker - it's a comfort to know that my faith rests on and in the One who is eternal. He changes not. His Word is sure and His promises are faithful.

Many years ago, at a time when life was fraught with distress and upheval, two significant things happened... First, He gave me warning of the impending changes in a series of three dreams. I told them to my mother over the phone. She perceived their meaning and import and helped me understand them. They prepared me and helped me know He was there, ever present. During this time He also brought a promise from His Word to my attention. "And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children." (Isaiah 54:13) I held onto that promise in all that followed. (I still cling to it.)

The second was born out of the first. The knowledge of His abiding presence and the way He had led me thus far brought a profound peace when the storm struck. It hurled itself into our lives with all its fury. Our days were filled with chaos. Through it all, prayer came easy, but it was not the frantic praying of a terrified soul. His presence was palpable. It was both comforting and upbuilding. Strength that was not my own was lent to me. Even strangers remarked on the peace surrounding me.

Right in the middle of that storm-tossed time, my next door neighbor came over, actually knocked on my door, to ask if I could help her find the peace she saw in me. Her heart was hungry and she gladly came to know the Lord, her husband and children soon followed.

Life has taught me that you cannot lose when your trust is in Jesus. He is abundantly able; to deliver, to save, to heal, to restore, to keep, and to give perfect peace in every situation. He is also able to complete all that He has begun in you - to the day of His appearing.

Maranatha!