Having arrived at the ripe old age of 53, I recently played in a golf tournament in which I was classified with the “Senior” group. So I found myself playing from the up tees with men who were by and large older than me. As we talked, almost to a man, our conversation would drift into aging. They would all share their aches and pains and their physical losses. I’d hear stories about bad backs, loss of eyesight or hearing or memory or mobility or energy or just plain loss!
The discussion would usually end up with some statement about, “Old age is overrated” or that “Growing old is not for the faint of heart.”
Though I have and am suffering through many of the same maladies, I have embraced aging with a different perspective. It’s God’s gift to help us loosen our hold on this life, so that we will be eager to grasp the next. Life is filled with loss. And not just physical, but the loss of careers, spouses, friends, and abilities, but it should help us yearn for the next life. One in which there is no more loss.
Jesus said, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:39) To lose this life is to find the next. Aging is not overrated, but under appreciated. Embrace loss so that you may discover life!
Tom Reynolds