Monday's Meditation: Growing Older

 "For now we are looking in a mirror that only gives a dim reflection
of reality, as in a riddle or enigma, but then, when perfection comes,
we shall see in reality and face to face!  Now I know in part, but
then I shall know and understand fully and clearly, even in the
same manner as I have been fully and clearly known
and understood by God."
(1 Corinthians 13:12)

Image courtesy/Rustic Log Furniture of Utah/via Google Images

With the coming of another new year we are all...a year older. Just what
does it mean to us-this growing older?  Are we coming to a cheerful, beautiful
old age, or are we beaten and cowed by the years as they pass?

Bruised we must be now and then, but beaten, never, unless we lack courage.

Not long since a friend said to me,  "Growing old is the saddest thing in the world."

Since then I have been thinking about growing old, trying to decide if I thought her right.
But I cannot agree with her.  True, we lose some things that we prize as time passes and
acquire a few that we would prefer to be without.  But we may gain infinitely more 
 with the years than we lose in wisdom, character, and the sweetness of life.

As to the ills of old age, it may be that those of the past were as bad but are dimmed
  by the distance.  Though old age has gray hair and twinges of rheumatism, 
  remember that childhood had freckles, tonsils, and the measles.

The stream of the passing years is like a river with people being carried along
in the current.  Some are swept along, protesting, fighting all the way, trying to
swim back up the stream, longing for the shores that they have past, clutching
at anything to retard their progress, frightened by the onward rush of the
strong current and in danger of being overwhelmed by the waters.

Moving with Faith

Others go with the current freely, trusting themselves to the buoyancy of
the waters, knowing they will bear them up.  And so with very little effort,
they go floating safely along, gaining more courage and strength from
their experience with the waves.

As New Year after New Year comes, these waves upon the river of life bear
us farther along toward the ocean of Eternity, either protesting the inevitable
and looking longingly back towards years that are gone or with calmness
and faith facing the future, serene in the knowledge that the power
behind life's currents is strong and good.

And thinking of these things, I have concluded that whether it is sad to
grow old depends on how we face it, whether we are looking forward with
confidence or backward with regret.  Still, in any case, it takes courage to
live long successfully, and they are brave who grow old with smiling faces.

Image courtesy/American Masters
PBS.org/via Google Images

"Growing Older"
(January 1923)

An essay from the book,
"Little House In The Ozarks
A Laura Ingalls Wilder Sampler
The Rediscovered Writings"
Laura Ingalls Wilder
(1867-1957)
Prolific American writer and
original pioneer girl, author of 
the "Little House" series of books.
Edited by Stephen W. Hines
Guidepost Edition
(1991)