Embrace it

Have you ever had one of those conversations that stick in your mind for a few days afterward? Not the kind where you regret something you said or should have said, but the kind that influences your demeanor or outlook until you shake it off or come to terms with what you discussed. Well, I had one of those conversations recently. I had the opportunity to spend some time with a couple of longtime friends, and I have to say it was time well spent. It was wonderful to hang out and laugh about old times. But after our visit there was something that kept sticking in my mind. It was the nagging thought that we were all getting old, no even worse, that we were already old.

My friends and I have always had a tendency towards discussing the future with anticipation and excitement, but this time it was somehow different. It seemed that none of us were looking forward too much. We were each questioning how much longer we had to live. What we were going to be like in our old age, and if we were going to end up like our parents and experience the same type of struggles that they are facing in their later years.

When I encounter conversations like the one, I and my friends shared I tend to ponder not only “what” was said but the “why” behind the words. Running them back over in my mind until I feel I have a better understanding of what transpired. As I thought about the breakfast with my friends, I couldn’t help but to feel somewhat depressed. Then to top it off my wife mentioned, yet again, how much I look like my dad and that was no encouragement (sorry Dad!). But then things took an unexpected turn, as I was cleaning my room I came across a little box that my daughter gave me a few years ago for my birthday. She had made it herself by cutting it out of light card stock and folding it perfectly to form a 3×3 inch box. Inside the box, she had written a little poem the end of the poem was what caught my attention:

You don’t get old by living… you get old when you stop living….

I believe in the Lord’s perfect timing and that He gives us what we need when we need it and matches our experiences with what He is trying to teach us. At the time when I was feeling pensive about my future and what it held for me and my friends, He led me to find the box. Then BOOM!-He gave me a simple reminder and confirmation…you’re only as old as you think you are. So what little reminders has God sent your way recently, maybe he’s trying to encourage you for something greater. Look for the small things that might be where your answer is 1 Kings 19:11-13

This post is an excerpt from my book Embrace It, getting older and how to deal with it.