Growing Old

For the whole...

of my life (the short twenty years it's been so far) my Mother has exclaimed "if you... you'll get wrinkles!"
My mother plays into the western cultural idea that ageing is bad.
I however have turned in the other direction.
Many of my relatives in their late 60s and 70s are very ill and dying. However I admire them because of the lives they've lived. Some have been caring and comforting to me. Encouraging and loving and some have shown a strength in the face of struggles that I hope to model in my own life.

I look forward to ageing. It is something that we only do once so why not accept and enjoy it?
I'm the kingdom of Heaven we will not age, we will not grow weary and we will not suffer pain.
In this life we will experience all these things because of sin.
However on the flip side consider it a blessing to have many years in your life. I know too many people who have passed leaving young children without parents, young adults choosing to take their own lives and teenagers killed in car accidents.
These are unfortunate thing sin life and cause me to grow thankful for every day that I have.

I look forward to aging. What a blessing from God!
To grow old in this life and to bear the wrinkles of age will be such a blessing (if I am blessed with this gift) because it will mean that God has given me many years in the service of his kingdom.

I will wear the laugh lines on my face with joy for the many good days the lord has gifted me with. I will wear the wrinkles around my eyes from the many tired nights I've sat beside ones I love who are grieving or in hospital.

My hands will shake and be frail from the many years I've held the hands of ones I love or baked food for their enjoyment.

My voice will become but a soft whisper from the years of singing and praising my God. The years of conversation with others of his love and glory.

I look forward to aging to the day my hands look like this:

When I clasp them in prayer as the breath of life leaves my body and I am united with my God forever more.

Until that day I continue to walk in his grace and his love. Doing good deed for the kingdom. Not so I can be saved but because I am saved!

Grace and Peace to you all. I pray that God gifts you with many years in his service on this earth.