Weekly Devotional

Getting Old(er) May 16, 2012 by Jim Crosby

 

I think of the good old days, long since ended, when my nights were filled with joyful songs.  I search my soul and think about the difference now.

Psalm 77: 5, 6

 

(This devotion was written 6 years ago, but it is still relevant today) 

 

 “…we get to add new experience to our lives, but somewhere inside we are every age we have always been.”  I recently came across that statement from a book by Stanley Baldwin called: “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Old Age.” Not that I sit around and think a lot about old age.  But, the indisputable fact is that we are all getting older everyday and this quote seems like a really neat way to consider aging.

           

As we age our lives are shaped and re-shaped by the circumstances we encounter.  I hear many people say “I’ll never get old.”  Not an optimistic statement when you consider the alternative.  But, what they are really saying is that they will never become an old grump.  They will remain young at heart.  Think young.  Act young.  That’s commendable because when we are young we are full of optimism.  The whole future lies ahead of us.  That is a great attitude to retain.

           

Obviously there are things that can hinder that attitude but those are mostly physical.  Staying young mentally is the key.  We may have to come to grips with the fact that we can’t undertake some physical feats we handled easily in our youth.  But, we don’t have to shut our minds to the achievement possibilities God gives us.

           

The neat thing about Stan Baldwin’s statement, which his grandmother told him, is that as we grow older we are not only adding new experiences, but we have the benefits of all those lifetime experiences we have already accumulated.  We may be, 50 years old, but we are also 40 because we have the memories of all the things that happened when we were in our forties.  We are also 30 because we remember those times.  We go all the way back to our youth and in our minds we are transformed to kids again.  We remember going to the lake with our buddies, those family picnics, ballgames, story-telling, vacations.  All the things we enjoyed as a youngster.  Having these memories is a wonderful benefit of growing older.

           

And what these memories do is they remind us of God’s goodness.  Just as He protected and brought us through all those earlier years, He is still doing it today as we continue to age. But, He expects us to do our part.  According to www.mayoclinic.com our part consists of developing healthy eating habits, staying physically active and exercising our mind.

           

I was particularly interested in the mental aspect of the Mayo Clinic’s advice because of the threat of Alzheimer’s, a disease that still has the medical world baffled.  Each week when we visited my Mother-in-law, who was an advanced Alzheimer’s patient, I wondered more about the mental part of aging.

 Here’s what Mayo says about exercising our mind:  “Just as physical activity keeps your body strong, mental activity keeps your mind sharp and agile. If you continue to learn and challenge yourself, your brain continues to grow, literally.  An active brain produces new connections between nerve cells that allow cells to communicate with one another.  This helps your brain store and retrieve information more easily, no matter what your age.”  Is that good news or what?  Now all we have to do is challenge our minds.  But how?  Well, here are a few of the ways Mayo Clinic suggests:

 

* Learning to play a musical instrument

* Playing scrabble and doing crossword puzzles

* Interacting with others

* Switching careers, jobs or starting a new one

* Starting a new hobby, such as crafts, painting, biking, or bird-watching

* Learning a foreign language

* Volunteering

* Staying informed about what’s going on in the world

* Reading.

 

Obviously there is something on that list for everyone.  Isn’t it encouraging? 

 

God appeared to Joshua in his old age (somewhere between 85 and 100 years old according to the NLT) with this advice:  When Joshua was an old man, the Lord said to him.  “You are growing old and much land remains to be conquered.”  Joshua had accomplished a lot.  Because of his faith, courage and obedience the Israelites finally made it to the Promised Land after wandering in the wilderness for 40 years.

 

A few years ago the Lovely Susette and I were privileged to hear Old Testament scholar Dr. Sandra Richter speak and she pointed out on a map just where that wilderness was. I was surprised to see that it was not a vast area.  But, the Israelites were just as lost in a smaller area as they would have been if they had wondered all over Palestine, because they had not kept the faith.  After the miraculous escape from Egypt they forgot about the hardship they had endured as slaves and began to grumble about the hardship of traveling.  They were hungry.  They were tired.  They were dusty.  They had short memories.  So, God let them wander.

 

Joshua was now an old man.  He had fought his battles. He had served God well.  But, he wasn’t going to get off the hook.  God still had plans for him.  There were still battles to be fought and won.  No sittin’ on the front porch with his feet propped up for Joshua. The NLT commentary says; “Our culture often glorifies the young and strong and sets aside those who are older.  Yet older people are filled with wisdom that comes with experience…Believers are never allowed to retire from God’s service.”

 

God’s not going to let us slow down. If we stay active, we will keep accomplishing big things in His name. The theme of Psalm 71 is “God’s constant help from childhood to old age.  Our lives are a testimony of what God has done for us.”

The Psalmist says; “My life is an example to many because you have been my strength and my protection.”

 

So, when we stop to think about today, we should remember yesterday. God has given us a sign as to what we can accomplish in our present age.  It is found in the past.  We have only to look back and see what He has done for us at other times in our life to know that God will be with us now as well.

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 Prayer:  Lord, you have been our strength in ages past and you are our strength in current times as well.  Show us how we can honor this gift by staying physically and mentally strong and active in your service.       Amen!

 

Author’s note: The Mayo Clinic staff also advises to keep stress to a minimum.  That’s not easy to do, but they say to simply take a break when you are stressed.  Just grab a little time for yourself, take some deep breaths, and escape mentally into another time and place.  Every little bit helps.  Have a great week. Challenge yourself and treat yourself well.  It will pay off in the long run.