Sunday, September 27, 2009

Gracefully Aging

Gray hair is a crown of splender; it is attained by a righteous life... The glory of young men is their strength, gray hair the splendor of the old. (Prov. 16:31 and 20:29).

But if gray hair is splendor, why are people "dying" to cover it up?

Today's culture makes us believe we should cover, hide or even lie about our age. When we celebrate our birthdays, we joke about being 39 again...or risk being called "over the hill." Our lives are bombarded with products to help us look younger or slow down the aging process.

I found it so refreshing at a recent Christian conference that many of the speakers and artists shared their ages willingly, both men and women: "I'll soon be turning 60"..."When I turned 50"..."I'm 48 and a half." (Remember when we were kids and we added every quarter or half?!)

It impressed me that these people were not only honest and open about their ages, but unapologetic...and very comfortable about where they were in life. What a good example they set for me, since I'm approaching one of those "significant" birthdays!

It made me eager to be like them, to anticipate being their age, to have attained the wisdom they possess, to see the world through their eyes.

Instead of being molded by the world, with all its reminders of getting older and all our ways of denying age, why not remember that while we live in the world, we are not of the world, and embrace each year, aging with grace?

I made up my mind to try to model for others what those wonderfully wise speakers and artists modeled for me. Since the Bible associates wisdom and splendor and respect with maturity, I will attempt to look at age as God does, and not as the world does.

No comments:

Post a Comment