AGING!

Hard to believe. This little kid whom I used to bounce around just the other day has graduated from high school overnight. My nephew, John. When did he become eighteen? Yesterday, I used to give him a hard time, teasing him and pulling his leg. Today, I’m at the receiving end. Yesterday, I was the fount of information. Today, he corrects my mistakes. Yesterday, I was treating the acne on his face. Today, he’s teaching me about “facebook”. Yesterday, he was a cute little elementary school kid. Today, he’s tall and gangly, bidding goodbye to his high school buddies.

I must be getting old! And who knows about tomorrow?

Come now, you who say,
“Today or tomorrow we will go
to such and such a city,
and spend a year there
and engage in business
and make a profit.”
Yet you do not know what
your life will be like tomorrow.
You are just a vapor
that appears for a little while
and then vanishes away.
James 4:13–14

Time flies. Things change. People age. And the clock ticks on, inexorably, irreversibly, incessantly. We might be unconscious of the fact, unmindful and unaware, but life is running out for each of us.

LORD, make me to know my end
and what is the extent of my days.
Let me know how transient I am.
Behold, You have made
my days as handbreadths,
and my lifetime
as nothing in Your sight.
Surely every man
at his best is a mere breath.
Psalm 39:4–5

And as the sand in our hourglasses run out, afflictions abound in synapse and sinew, frailties fell both mind and body. But we are sustained by our everlasting Father, and the eternality of life He gives us.

And now, Lord,
for what do I wait?
My hope is in You.
Psalm 39:7

Indeed! Our hope is in the One who has promised eternal life to those who believe in Christ Jesus for salvation from their sins, a life wherein all things will be renewed. However, in the meantime, as we await those days when things will be as they ought to be—wrongs emended, sin eradicated, joy established, God enjoyed—until then, the Psalmist says …

As for the days of our life,
they contain seventy years,
or if due to strength, eighty years.
Yet their pride
is but labor and sorrow.
For soon it is gone
and we fly away.
So teach us to number our days,
that we may present to You
a heart of wisdom.
Psalm 90:11–12

Until then, here on earth, may we be wise in all our undertakings, employing ourselves with care during the days allotted to us in this life, as we seek to bring Him praise and glory in all that we think and say and do.

My mouth is filled
with Your praise
and with Your glory all day long.
Do not cast me off
in the time of old age.
Do not forsake me
when my strength fails.
But as for me,
I will hope continually,
and will praise You
yet more and more.
My mouth shall tell
of Your righteousness
and of Your salvation all day long.
And even when I am old and gray,
O God, do not forsake me.
Until I declare Your strength
to this generation,
Your power to all who are to come.
For Your righteousness,
O God, reaches to the heavens,
You who have done great things;
O God, who is like You?
Psalm 71:8–9, 14–15, 18–19

We age. Be wise. Serve God.