“Teach
us to number our days and recognize how few they are; help us to spend them as
we should.” Psalm 90:12
(Living)
Do you remember how as a child it seemed like it was 12 years between
Christmases rather than 12 months?
I vividly recall how my older sisters when babysitting me would suggest
that I write a letter
to
Santa regardless if it were July and although I expected a rapid reply, I
discovered that his time line was quite different than mine!
Yes, when we were children, time seemed to drag and times between events
was often wished away rather than savored!
Even as we grew a bit older, our days seemed to be without limitation and
we believed ourselves to be immortal.
As we aged and matured, we reached the point where days and weeks seemed
to run together. Ultimately, we
reached a stage where we realized we had a shorter time to gather from life what
it had to offer and began to recognize that each day is a gift and when we waste
a day, it is gone forever. Even
though we may not enjoy and experiencing the “aches and pains”’ of ageing, even
these have their place in the journey of life.
The writer of Ecclesiastes bemoaned the fact that too often our life
passes without accomplishing anything lasting or meaningful. Perhaps, too many people spend their
time working for and accumulating things that in the end they leave to someone
else. During our sunset years we
need to ask ourselves: What has our life accomplished for the glory of
God? Further, as we have grown
older, has our relationship with God grown stronger or are we still trying to amass worldly
things? Has our desire for more
‘stuff’ diminished or increased as we have matured? Surely the recognition of the brevity of
life should result in our recognizing the futility of earthly things! This recognition and our growing frailty
should result in a greater dependence on Him.
Yet, my experience in living in a retirement community has led me to
sense an existence of a quite prevalent attitude of “already done that”
mentality. This can take multiple
forms: Freedom from Christian service is frequently considered as a reward for
past service in the church and community and the attitude sometimes seems to
prevail “it is time for the young ones “ to take over even though their “free
time” is much less than ours and likewise their experience. However, perhaps the most destructive
barrier to change in the church and its programs is the observation, “we tried
that once and it didn’t work!”
Quite obviously if we try to start any endeavor with that attitude in
mind, the prediction of failure will surely prove to be
right!
Scripture is replete with examples of
individuals assuming responsibilities to serve when other would consider them
aged. Abraham was 75; Moses c. 80;
and Caleb was 85 just to name a few.
Further for many, the greatest achievements in their lifetimes occurred
in their sixties and beyond:
Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela, Grandma Moses, Mother Teresa and
countless others. Each of these
individuals had firm beliefs that the best was yet
to come in their lives. How
should each of us respond to His call to serve during
our Golden Years?