August 15: THOUGHTS ON AGING

I went with a group from our Church today to the Senior Adult Nutrition Center to present a musical program. They were happy to see us. Partly because we were younger than they are, we offered diversion and fellowship. My Mother-in-law died at 95; I remember her complaining that her contemporaries had all died and there was no one with whom she could discuss her memories from her youth.
To what do you attribute old age? You get a different theory from every senior adult you interview. The truth is that your time and mine are in God’s hands. The Bible talks a lot about getting old. The general complaint, even in Bible times, is that time is too short. It comes and goes too quickly. So much is always left to say and do.
In Job 14:5 the ancient man said that our days are determined and decreed by God when we are born. If we don’t use the time wisely, we are not given a second chance. David prayed in Psalm 39:4, “show me my life’s end and the number of my days.”
It’s the faulty reasoning of man to imagine that if he knew when he was going to die, he would be sure to get ready for that day.
Jesus challenged us to immediate action now. Don’t worry, act now! “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” Jesus asked in Matthew 6:27.
Psalm 90:10 says we have 70 or 80 years to live if everything goes well with us but that seems very short when you are nearing 60. Life is so short! I can’t remember how I got here so fast. Tomorrow, and tomorrow’s tomorrow is totally beyond our reach.
James 4:15 advises, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live, if not, we will die.” In that case, prepare to meet God now, not later; not tomorrow but now!
At this point youth, young adults, and senior adults have one thing in common: “I still have time to put off for another day getting things settled with God” is the reasoning used to delay action.

“Dear and Eternal God, we creatures of time need to face the temporariness
of our lives. Give us a wake-up call again. Thanks! Amen”