Monday Meditation: Growing Older With Faith

 

 

 

 "Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.  Be not wise in
thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy
navel, and marrow to thy bones. Honor the LORD with thy substance, and
with the first fruits of all thine increase: so shall thy barns be filled with
plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine."
(Proverbs 3:5-10)

 

 

 

Wild Prairie Roses
Image courtesy/iStock

 

 

 

 

 

With the coming of another 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 being 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 distance. Though old age has gray hair and twinges of
rheumatism, remember that childhood has freckles, tonsils, and the measles.

 

The stream of 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 passed,
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. 

 

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 toward 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 is is sad to
grow old depends on how we face it, whether we are looking forward with
confidence or backwards with regret. Still, in any case, it takes courage to
live long successfully, and they are brave who grow old with smiling faces.

 

 

 

 

 

"Growing Old With Faith"
Laura Ingalls Wilder
(1867-1957)
Prolific American writer and author of
the "Little House" series of books.

 

 A devotional taken from the book,
Saving Graces
  The Inspirational Writings
of Laura Ingalls Wilder
Edited by Stephen Hines
(1997)
Broadman & Holman Publishers
Nashville, Tennessee