“Even to your old age I will be the same, And even to your graying years I will carry you. I have done it, and I will bear you; And I will carry you and I will save you.”
Isaiah 46:4 (NIV)
In a little over five months, I will leave my sixties, and turn seventy. It’s always strange to ponder a new decade of life, but every year we are given, is a gift from God. I don’t feel any older with the exception of my hands and feet, which I consider to be the oldest parts of my body. My feet have bunions and my hands are arthritic. My right hand particularly, has knuckles so swollen, and fingers so crooked, my mobility in that hand is limited. Aside from that, age is merely a number to me. I know it sounds like a cliche, but the advantage of aging is the same one as the aging of a good wine. We have the opportunity to get better over the years, through the changes and life lessons learned over a lifetime. Getting older reminds us of our purpose here, and it’s essential to live with a sense of Spirit driven purpose. Dwight L Moody said about aging, “Preparation for old age should begin not later than one’s teens. A life which is empty of purpose until 65 will not suddenly become filled on retirement.” It’s so true, and when we live with a sense of divine purpose, getting older really does result in getting wiser, and the longer we live, the more we learn, based on our many decades of trial and failure. Since all things work together for good according to “His purpose,” we need to get busy and live out His purpose. It doesn’t help to look back at our faults and failures, because we can start fresh today to live out the remaining purpose God intended for our lives. If we have been hurt by someone, we can make the choice to become the kind of person we once needed when we were hurting, and not be like the people who hurt us. Some find God’s purpose for their lives early in the journey of faith, but God may also birth a new purpose for us in our later years. Having a God given purpose, is like having Jesus in our boat when the storm comes. He won’t test us beyond what we can endure and He is forever standing at the helm of our boat, speaking to us in our storm saying things like “Peace, be still”, and “I will never leave you or forsake you”. We will never have to ride through a storm alone, because He is steering the boat, but we control what direction we look in. We must keep looking forward to our destination. The Lord may permit dark clouds to enter our lives at times, but any dark cloud permitted by Jesus is going to be silver lined. We may not understand why some things had to be, and we all have questions to ask God some day. Most people’s questions pertain to why, when or how a loved one died. For now, those questions remain a mystery, but we will have all of eternity to learn the answers. For now it’s not about why, only who. We know who we have believed in and He is able to keep us until that day. We know who loves us most with an everlasting, unconditional love and He has a perfect plan for us. I don’t know what the future holds for me in my seventies, but I know who holds my future, and He’s the same one who holds my crippled arthritic right hand every day. Thank you, Jesus, for carrying us all through our graying years, and for keeping us with your amazing unchanging love and faithfulness. We put our hand in yours, and look forward to fulfilling your purpose in our lives. Amen