July 18, 2024
Right now, our world seems to be having a collective conversation on the nature of aging. Leaders in both political parties have been staying in their positions of leadership for a long, long time. Joe Biden, Mitch McConnell, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and others are trying to hold on to power and authority for as long as possible.
And we admire people who seem to defy aging. One of our church members (Paul McElroy) plays in an over-80 softball league (their catcher is 96!). Paul still actively runs at the age of 86 and I hope to be half as active as him when I am his age. And many of us admire 91-year-old Ardmore member Marie Charles who continues to practice and teach yoga.
But there are also some realities to aging that we have to admit. Psalm 90:12 says,
Teach us to count our days
that we may gain a wise heart.
We are currently in the midst of a sermon series on wisdom and here we have a psalm pointing us towards one aspect of wisdom. Another translation says that we are to “number our days.” It seems that the wisdom of numbering our days is for us to never forget that our days are numbered!
To count our days is to embrace our finitude. To count our days is to wrestle with reality. To count our days is to treat each day as a blessing.
Counting our days means that we are willing to know where God has placed us in life and we will not shy away from what those days mean for us.
Retirement seems to be a scary prospect for a lot of people. I recently heard Chester Sosobee (another Ardmore member) wisely say, “You can’t just retire. You have to retire to something.” When he retired as a pharmacist, Chester did a lot of research on how to build a life of meaning in the midst of retirement. He walks every day, reads constantly, and socializes as often as he can (and is always rocking a pair of overalls!).
None of us likes to admit that we are getting older. Not long ago I was playing with my son Owen in his room when he suddenly said, “Wow, Dad. Your hair is getting both thin and gray! A double whammy!” A double whammy, indeed, son.
But aging will come for each and every one of us and there is nothing, nothing, nothing we can do about it. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take care of ourselves! We should stay active, eat healthy, and do all the things to be good stewards of our bodies. But none of those things make us immune to time.
Instead, we place our lives into the hands of the Lord of time. We trust ourselves to God and we seek to live out grace at whatever age we find ourselves in. We count our days and gain a wise heart.
