Friday, February 20. 2015
The Bible says: “Fairy tales can come true; it can happen to you if you’re young at heart.” No….wait…...that’s not in the Bible; it’s a line from an old Frank Sinatra song. Even so, I believe that being young at heart is a good thing. Yesterday, I saw a news report about a service that started recently which is geared primarily to senior citizens. From what I heard, the service has been around for a couple of years and offers folks home delivery for their groceries, or else involves taking them places or running their errands for them. I thought that was a great idea and thinking I may avail myself of that service in the near future, I started writing down the contact information. Then I thought, “wait a minute; I’m not ready for that yet.” It just may be that the days my wife and I will need that service is right around the corner; but not today!
Recently, we became members at a new senior center in our area and we were excited at the amenities offered, like exercise equipment, classes and activities of all kinds, even a free meal. We thought it would be perfect for us because it would keep us active and in good shape and would even save us a few bucks in the process. After a few weeks, however, we decided that senior center membership was not for us, at least not yet. We left basically because of our still busy and active life style, although we both later confessed that being there made us both feel older than we are. To be honest, now I’m not so sure we’ll ever be joining any senior center. I choose to believe that we’re going to keep on going until our battery just runs out, period. No, I’m not a dreamer, old people don’t need anyone to remind them that they’re old; their own body and other things remind them of that constantly. People use many excuses for not serving God and others, or not living their lives to the fullest, old age should not be one of them.
Moses was eighty years old when the Lord sent him to go lead His people out of Egypt, and when the people of God were being allotted their land portions in Canaan, Caleb came to Joshua and said: “Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.” (Joshua 14:12) Caleb had his mind set on the hill country for him and his descendants and vowed to drive out the Anakites that were living there. Oh, by the way, the Anakites were giants and Caleb was 85 years old at the time. After the death of Sarah, Abraham remarried and had six sons by his second wife. He was well over a hundred years old by then, and according to Genesis 25:8, he died at the age of 175“ at a good old age, an old man and full of years.” Maybe old age is just a state of mind as some people say, and maybe there is some truth in the saying “you’re as old as you feel.” However, one thing is certain: regardless of one’s age, and as long as we’re still here, we can all do something positive with our lives. Are you “young at heart”?
