I turn 57 today.  I was sitting here in my early morning quiet time (and putting off going to the gym for my planned workout to stave off the effects of aging) contemplating aging.  Aging is a terminal, progressive disease that no one pulls out of.  We contract the disease when we are conceived.  It is programmed into the very life of our DNA.  Even as we enjoy our youthful vigor, it is ticking away within us like time bombs.  When we’re young, we drink freely of aging—long for it and speed its coming. In adulthood, we resist it and begin to try to stave off its effects through all kinds of efforts to stay young.  But, its inevitable march through the fields of our lives tramples the grapes of our youthfulness.

My memory about lots of things has always been pretty good.  I remember some snapshots of things when I was two, some more developed memories—short videos—when I was around three, and lots of things—short movies—when I was four and five.  It’s amazing what one remembers and what one simply forgets, isn’t it?  I remember contemplating aging from my earliest years.  Being the youngest of eight children, I had a rink side seat watching my older siblings grow up.  I remember wanting to be what they were and do what they go to do.  I remember thinking about what it would be like to be their ages at that time.  Now, I’m glad I’m not their ages!  Just jesting.  But, those collective memories, while there are many vividly painful ones, are a treasure trove of blessings.  Even the bad ones as they allow me to avoid pains now and they also allow me to bless so many others with the empathy, wisdom, and insight I’ve developed through them.  Without aging, there would be no experiences.  Without experiences, there would be no blessings.

As we age and look into our mirrors day by day, we reach a point that we can certainly begin to affirm Paul’s observation that, “outwardly we are wasting away.”   Wow, no fun there.  Wrinkles and lines form.  Dark spots appear.  Ugly things grow on us.  Fat stores more easily, stays longer, disappears with much more difficulty, and things start sagging.  Aches and pains occur for no real known reasons.  Gray hair appears.  Hair grows where it’s not supposed to and doesn’t where it is (what’s with that?!).  Intentional, unintentional, jesting and serious comments (“Hey, I thought you were your dad there for a minute.”  Or, as my brother a few years back heard something like, “You look like George Bush…Senior!”  Thanks.)  from others further confirm our growing fears--we are not only aging, we are showing it!

Everyone gets to be young, but only a few get to be really old.  With age we acquire quite a library of experience, knowledge and wisdom.  Hence, we may not live with as much vigor, but we can live with more zest and confidence.  I once read in an advice column that when an old person dies, a library burns down. I guess some of those libraries are full of better “books” than others, but when someone dies, so much information leaves this world with them.

In reality our attitudes toward aging are really tests of our faith though.  Much of our fight against aging is rooted in our fight for survival in this present world.  Some is certainly in our resistance to losing our youthful vigor, our desire to look and feel our best, or outright vanity.  I don’t believe God expects us to like getting old.  He tells us to endure hardship as discipline, and aging certainly is a form of hardship.  He further tells us that no discipline is pleasant at the time, but rather it is painful.  He knows.  He understands.  So, it’s not that we should “like” it—that it should “feel” good, but that we should embrace it.

The Apostle John tells us that the victory over the world IS our faith.  And, by faith we can overcome the challenges of aging.  If we really believe God, if we really believe the Bible, then we’ll believe that we are headed to a life free from all the things we hate here, all the things we fear here, all the pains and evils of this present age.  The real test is: do we believe him?  After all, as Paul said, “To die is gain.”  And further, as the Proverb notes, “Gray hair is a crown of splendor.”  (I’m growing quite a crown, too!)  So with aging, we are growing a crown and we are ever closer to a world that is much better and is free from aging—from accumulating any more bad experiences!  We’ll have all our blessings we’ve acquired here—all our memories of wonderful experiences and gifts—plus we’ll have the even-more-incredible blessings we’ve been promised in the life to come.   Jesus promised us that no one has given up anything for the kingdom that won’t be multiplied in blessings in this present life and then even more so in the world to come.  So, do we really believe it?  That’s the test question.

So, yeah, I’m 57 today.  I’m headed for the big 6-0.  When I was young, 57 year-old people seemed really old.  And, in the world of my youth, they were much “older” than 57-year-olds are today.  They generally didn’t, and really most often couldn’t, take care of themselves as well as we do.  They were uninformed about important health information.  They didn’t have access to the kind of healthcare we have today (gosh, both of my parents had all their teeth removed in their 40s!).  There were fewer healthy role models they could learn about and from as we do through modern media and so forth.  Expectations were really relatively low really.  However at 57, I still play basketball and run and work out at the gym.  I spent three days snow skiing this past winter with my 33 year-old buddy (and did pretty well by the way)  who has me playing ping pong and Frisbee and skiing and playing basketball (I’m still refusing wake-boarding and tubing though as I think it would just hurt the old joints way too much:).  

One of my heroes, the late Stanley Shipp, once said something like he’d rather be 70-years-young than 50-years-old.  That kinda summarizes a lot.  So much of our mental and emotional experiences here depend on our perspectives—how we measure things.  If we measure the quality of life primarily by lower age (that is, quality of life is inversely proportional to age), aging will be a big downer.  If we measure quality of life, by the number of blessings and good and pleasant experiences we’ve had (quality of life is directly proportional to age), aging will be an upper.   If we see aging as a curse, it will be a downer.  If we see aging as a crown, it will be an upper.  If this life is all we hope in, aging will be a downer.  If we see this life as greatly inferior to the next, aging will be an upper.

So, yeah, I’m a bit 5-7 today!  I am 57-years-young.  I am most blessed.  

So, I better stop now and get to the gym!