What of Old Age and the Beauty of God (Part 1)
I used to make fun of old people, who, when they got together, all they talked about were their aches, pains, and latest medical procedures. Now I are one of them! And so are my old friends. We sit around and compare medications and their milligrams as a conversation piece like it it’s a hobby. We were talking about arthritis the other day, and somebody said it’s just the early onset of rigor mortis. Old age just sorta creeps up on you like mold in the shower.
Just today I got back to back feel-better-about-myself comments. Both of which came from people most likely with serious vision issues. The first, while waiting in line at the pharmacy. I’m there so often they just leave my prescriptions near the cash register so as to save time when they see me coming. Like Parker Palmer said, “I used to bore my doctors, but have now become a ‘person of interest’ to several kinds of specialists.”
Anyway, I was wearing shorts, and the woman behind me said to me something I can honestly say I’ve never heard said to me before: “You have nice legs!” Nicest thing (if not the most forward), I’ve heard in a long time. She was standing next to a man, so I resisted the temptation to ask her out!
I went from there to the grocery store next door. While standing in that line, a guy of about 40 recognized me from twenty-five years back when he was a teenager. Our church used to hand out slices of pizza at lunch time to the high schoolers coming through our property. Relationships and gospelling the kids was our goal, but serendipitously it cut down on graffiti and pot smoking. (Theirs, not ours.) I wanted to ask him what he thought of my legs, but thought better of it.
Anyway, the fact that he recognized the forty-five old me in my wrinkly seventy-year old face blew my mind! The Lord must be trying to tell me something like “You have a few more laps to run, so don’t leave the race just yet.” Frankly, I have had visions of hanging up my running shoes.
There is an upside to standing in line. I think I’ll do it more often and wait for compliments!
A not-well-known biblical character asked King David a series of rhetorical questions: “I am now eighty years old. Can I tell the difference between what is enjoyable and what is not? Can your servant taste what he eats and drinks? Can I still hear the voices of male and female singers?” (2 Samuel 19:35) I’m not eighty yet, but I can relate.
The author of Ecclesiastes used metaphors to describe the changes and challenges of old age. He compared his waning sight to the sun going down, his loss of teeth to “grinders” that stop grinding, his whitened hair to almond blooms, and his weakened state to the difficulty of carrying something the weight of a grasshopper. (Ecclesiastes 12:1-7) Again, I can relate.
On this topic of aging, the ninetieth Psalm has captured my attention lately. It all started when I turned 70 this year and I remembered that the poem’s author, Moses said, “Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures.” I don’t believe this is a death sentence for septuagenarians, the Bible’s rule for mortality. But still it knocked me for a loop on my birthday. Not that I’m afraid to die. In fact, I quite look forward to being with Jesus. It just seems like 70 is older than I thought it would be before actually arriving here.
Though we haven’t gotten to the part about the “beauty of God” or the Psalm that refers to it (the 90th), stay with me for another couple of posts. In the meantime, whether you’re young or old, read Psalm 90 and look for something that will help you set your sights on living while you’re alive.
