Aging gracefully...
Looking around, it seems like my friends are aging....and I am going with them...it doesn't seem possible that we are actually getting older..it is too soon...there is still things to do, places to go, people to see..
We are taking care of aging parents, sometimes babysitting grandchildren, advising children, doing volunteer work, taking care of loved ones with illnesses, running a household, keeping in touch with others and maybe retiring...but we can't be old enough to be "aging...."
I remember one time when my mother was seeing her doctor. She noticed notes on his pad saying, "small elderly white haired woman " written as a description of herself...she didn't think of herself as elderly...that was a shock at 80!
I have a friend, who at 94 is crocheting blankets as fast as she can for the needy ones around her..she has outlived three husbands, two children, lives alone, taking care of herself...she is aging gracefully in the Lord...
Another, at 80, is going through cancer gracefully until her last smile...
Others, have daughters who could be their twins..smiling until their last breath, just as their daughters are doing...
Still others who don't remember the last time their children visited them, the day before...
Or the younger ages, as on this video, giving advice to "younger" people...
We each have advice to give to those who are coming behind us...doing, listening, being...and we are given advice in the Bible as well...
Titus 2:2-8, 11-15 Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.
Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good.
Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God. Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled.
In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.
For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.
Thank YOU for the aging process...even when I don't want to admit it....help me to age gracefully, fruitfully....not angerly, or sadly...but with radiance from You...
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