The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away (Psalm 90:10, New King James Version).
We live for seventy years or so (with luck we might make it to eighty), and what do we have to show for it? Trouble! Toil and trouble and a marker in the graveyard (Psalm 90:10, The Message).
Old age is a case of mind over matter! If you don’t mind, it don’t matter!
Nobody wants to grow old! We tax our ingenuity to stop the aging process, knowing full well that we can’t change it. We try to buy springtime at the drug store, and I’ll have to admit, every old barn needs a coat of paint every now and then. But God pity the old body that has no better safeguard against the coming of old age than can be found in makeup, powder, facelifts, collagen treatments, and new, younger looking clothes. One elderly woman said, “I have the body of a twenty-five year old.” To which someone replied, “You’d better give it back you’re getting it all wrinkled!”
And we are constantly bombarded with the cult of youth. The only television commercials we see are geared to the young. Oh, I know there are some commercials for the elderly, usually advertising incontinence supplies or life insurance.
The orator’s tongue loses its eloquence. The writer’s pen loss its skill. One famous author said in his old age, “My God, what a genius I was then!” The light of the brain dims some with age, so fill your mind with good things now, so you will have great memories later. Rose, my Administrative Assistant when I was on staff at Promise Keepers told me her mom, who was suffering from dementia, or Alzheimer's didn’t know her or anyone, but she could sing all of the old Gospel songs. The Booth Brother’s have a recording titled, “She still remembers Jesus name.” So fill your mind with the things of the Lord, it will benefit you later, even if you do not suffer from Alzheimer's or dementia.
Psalm 92:13,14, Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing.
Evening time has a radiance all its own. If you have the Lord in your life, a smile on your lips, a spring in your step, and a song in your heart it doesn’t matter how old you are you’re still a beauty.
One solemn thought comes to me o’er and o’er,
I’m nearer my home today
Than I’ve ever been before.
Nearer the end of life,
Where I lay my burden down;
Nearer leaving my cross,
Nearer gaining my crown.
