Aging Gracefully Together

There are many things we don’t learn about until later or late in life. On the other hand there are some things that we can’t learn about until later in life. If I am twenty then I can’t know how it feels to be sixty until I get there. I can’t know the struggle there can be in paying bills until the time comes when I have to regularly pay them. When we are young with boundless energy and run like the gazelle we don’t run around crying about nagging pains but once we hit 50, “oh my knee hurts”, “oh my back hurts”, ”oh my head hurts”, “oh my toe hurts”, ”oh it hurts in places I didn’t know existed”. ”okay Martha it is time to move to a one level. I can barely make it up these steps”. You get the idea. We couldn’t learn about nagging pains and loss of energy until the body started screaming at us.. There are some things we could have learned about in our younger years but just didn’t listen or pay attention. How many older people do you know or perhaps you are one yourself who at some point late in life or later in life have found themselves saying “I should have listen to my parents” As a matter of fact, parents often warn their kids about not listening by recounting the times they didn’t listen to them.
I am a “BABY BOOMER”, meaning that I was born in the generation of people who came into this world between 1946 and 1964 (wickipedia). I am now in my 60s. I have learned many lessons along the way. Some lessons I should have learned when I was young but chose to ignore. When I was young I knew it was good to save but by and large I chose instant gratification and didn’t understand the value of putting aside a little at a time for the long term. I understood the benefits of saving and even tried it from time to time but due to my desire for instant pleasure I spent and forgot about the future. I fell into the trap that millions upon millions of people fall into every day-I can’t do without it, or I have to have it now. Had I heeded the lesson of frugality and consistent saving I probably would be a millionaire now. Of course we are always gaining knowledge with the opportunity to pay attention to lessons learned from the past; however sometimes we do the same things as an older person that we did as a youngster-we ignore. The writing of this book speaks to one lesson I am learning now “BUT” should have at least given consideration to it earlier in my marriage. I knew and understood that marriage is a holy covenant that binds two people together until death parts them. I understood that prior to saying “I do” and accepted it. As a Christian it was my desire and my wife’s desire to remain married even under adverse circumstances. Even when those proverbial “bumps in the road” appeared. No matter how much rain poured on our marriage we wanted to honor God and uphold our Christian testimony. In every marriage there are are going to be some rainy days and some days when the the “THUNDER AND LIGHTENING” will be present. Both my wife and I have tried with God’s enablement to remain faithful and though there have been many trials and tests we are still married after forty years. Please don’t misunderstand we do not have a “grind your teeth and bear it type of marriage”. We have a marriage with tests like all others but we love each other and are committed to each other. The lesson I should have given serious thought to was that we were not going to be young forever. We are mortal and aging was going to happen rather we liked it or not. We would have gray hair and at some point were going to need the assistance of kind and compassionate young people Our steps were going to become shorter and slower. Our memory was going to start fading in and out; coming and going. The book of Ecclesiastes 12:1-5 NKJV: The writer writes ”Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, Before the difficult days come, And the years draw near when you say, I have no pleasure in them: While the sun and the light, The moon and the stars, Are not darkened, And the clouds do not return after the rain; In the day when the keepers of the house tremble, And the strong men bow down; When the grinders cease because they are few, And those that look through the windows grow dim; When the doors are shut in the streets, And the sound of grinding is low; When one rises up at the sound of a bird, And all the daughters of music are brought low. Also they are afraid of height, And of terrors in the way; When the almond tree blossoms, The grasshopper is a burden, And desire fails. For man goes to his eternal home, And the mourners go about the streets”. The writer seems to be painting a very real and vivid picture of one’s mortality with the encouragement/ warning to remember our Creator while young. It appears and perhaps some if not many bible scholars would see a lot of metaphors in this passage. Perhaps “grinders” represent teeth. “Windows” may represent eyes and so forth. Even if you have not read Ecclesiastes 12:1-5; you know the truth of the passage either by personal experience or from watching others around you. Yes we are getting older even if we refuse to admit it. Your body may force you to admit it or the first time you are addressed as “sir” or “Ms.” you will be brought to the reality of aging.
The lesson my wife and I should have learned or thought about early in our marriage was that there is a decision to be made about how we will approach AGING. Are we going to do it gracefully and bring honor to our Savior or let it sneak up on us and become sour, bitter, indifferent and present ourselves as a weed instead of a rose. How we age really is a function of our attitude, our perspective and how we understand God’s will for our lives. Hopefully the contents of this book will give some useful ideas about how to age gracefully. Whether we are young or old we can always make ADJUSTMENTS