November 15, 2006
Let's Go This Way
Some of my family and friends are frustrated with getting older because they just can’t do the things they did when they were younger. It’s as though they have a 50 year-old mind trapped in an 80 year-old body. Although Jesus was speaking specifically about Peter’s death, I think His words sum up the aging process for all of us. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” (John 21:18 NIV) When I get old I hope I can remember to be grateful that at least there is someone to dress me and lead me…even if it isn’t where I want to go.
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Gail;
----Jesus had such a way of stuffing bitter truth into humor. I can imagine the twinkle in His eyes and the slight grin on His lips as He spoke, "...and lead you where you do not want to go." I think of that roomfull of old folk, frail and powerless, at your church on Sunday mornings being led where they do not want to go. It is so sad.
----But, on to the gold of the golden years! I see young life as being so physically vibrant that the vastness of the this world draws most of us into the great adventures of our temporal lives. Our homes, our careers, our entertainment, and our religious action get the mass of our attention, and our spiritual understanding perseveres as a sappling. But as the body grows old and the physical possibilities shut down, the roads to physical adventure close. It would seem to be a spell of entrappment, almost closturphobic, if it were not for the other door beginning to open up, the one to the real world, to the eternal world blessed with Christ's light.
----That door can also be met with vibrancy - spiritual vibrancy. All of Peter's exhortation to suffer with joy and the cover to cover exhortations to bring perseverance, patience, and thanksgiving to all conditions of life are the gateways to spiritual adventure. For the frail and imobile elderly, it is one of the only roads to adventure remaining.
----I carefully considered which Christ allowed principle would be a mark on the temporal horizon for my life. I decided that principle would be the occasion to lay on my death-bed with the comfort of knowing that my imperfect efforts were invested in helping to build His spiritual infrastucture within my friends and neighbors, and that the joy of my hope was the inviting blast of light shortly to come.
----I look forward to being old. And if I am led by inconsiderate hands to where I do not want to go, I will take joy in knowing those same hands will be changing my badly soiled diapers.
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