All of our Years are Golden Years

Writer's Note: This is a special edition of my column for the Statesville Record and Landmark's Progress Edition. Airing April 28th, 2013

A few years back, my friend and I were interviewed side by side for a documentary done by the North Carolina Baptist Aging Ministries. We were young, happy, and talking about working with senior adults in our community. Years later I still think about that video. My friend isn’t here anymore on this side of Heaven. She didn’t have the opportunity to grow older and into her golden years like so many people will have the opportunity to do.

            I think for me that started to put things into perspective. We’ve all taken days, months and even years for granted. We grow older with each passing day but do we really realize the wonder and amazement that we have another morning of life? For me, I’ve developed three points to help me grow older. I hope that these might help you as we continue to journey on the road to life.

1.     Joy is holy: We sing about joy in church, with such standards as ‘Joy to the World’ and ‘Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee.’ But do we know what joy is? Joy is that feeling on Easter or Christmas morning when we realize that this is life at its best. Joy is that ability to stand at the ocean or in the mountains and see the majesty of the creation of God. Joy is that inescapable feeling that things are right in our world.

2.     Be Vulnerable: We as a culture have gotten in a mentality that we have to do everything for ourselves. Any lack of independence is a sign of defeat. But ultimately we need to be vulnerable. Some of the most important experiences we have as human beings are to find the wounds of another person and touch the heart of that wound. We stand in moments of time and find ourselves growing older, and in our vulnerability we can express our fears and our joys about the aging process. People need to shift their realities from independence to interdependence. God weaves God’s presence through each and every one of us. God is present in our aging joys and aging sorrows. Ultimately, if we are vulnerable enough, we find God in ourselves and in the people around us.

3.     Love Like There’s No Tomorrow: None of us are guaranteed tomorrow, nothing is certain in this life and nothing will be able to prevent the inevitable to happen. That may sound bleak, but it gives us the opportunity to love like there’s no tomorrow. We can love friends, spouses, children, grandchildren, churches, communities, in ways that point to the beautiful love God has for each of us. It will never be as perfect as God’s love, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. Love in reality is what gets us through those long days and cold nights. Love is what allows us to age with grace and dignity. So to love like there’s no tomorrow enables us to age as people of grace, hope and faith.

           

            Growing older shouldn’t scare us, growing bitter, or hateful should scare us. For in our older years we see the fruition of God’s work in our lives. God showed the fruition of God’s promise to Abraham in the last years of his life. In the end God sees all of our years as golden years. Years that allow us to be God’s presence here on earth.

            Even though my friend isn’t here anymore, I am reminded of that documentary. I know I am 20 years old; I am by no means in my older years. But I hope in God’s grace that I will be able to experience all the joys that are ahead. The beauty of marriage, the pitter-patter of children and grandchildren, I’ve always wanted to go to the English Countryside. I take with me the memory of my friend as a reminder that getting old is a luxury some people will never have. There’s an old hymn that became iconic in the 1960’s, it goes like this, “God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou who hast brought us thus far on the way; thou who hast by thy might, led us into the light, keep us forever in the path, we pray.” Let us give thanks for everything we have, our weary years and our silent tears, but also let us give thanks that we are given the opportunity to laugh and find joy, to be vulnerable, and to love like there’s no tomorrow.