“It’s a fact that you’re gettin’ older
Man don’t it seem like the winters are colder
You get tired so easy and you can’t stand the heat.
That’s just the ol’ cowboy blues
When you wear out your first pair of house shoes
It don’t get as much done and work ain’t as much fun
As it used to be… .”      –Dan Roberts

Call it the end of the year slump; call it the effect of breathing in too much of the aroma of red ink; call it just plain tiredness, but the old gray matter is not generating too many thoughtful thoughts. What is the old saying? The get up and go has gotten up got. Maybe it’s just me getting along in the years. I remember when I was just as fresh as the end of the year as I was in the beginning, in fact, I would be gearing up for the next year.
I look at some folk around and say to myself, “Goodness – the things they can do for their age!”. Then I look at others and say, goodness they are in bad shape for their age. Perhaps the thing to do is to try and maintain, and continue to strive to get better. I know there are things I can no longer do, and definitely things I would no longer even try to do. However, I’m not totally ready for my rockin’ chair (at least permanently). There are times when I sit, but I do try and at least ponder in those times.
In the Scriptures I read about those in their “ripe old age” and wonder if that means they are getting a little aromatic. Maybe it means they are wrinkled like prunes. Being ripe could also mean, not worth eating, or being around; folks who are just kind of soft and squishy.
One thing that is good–God doesn’t age. He doesn’t get older, even though He might be called the “Ancient of Days.” He is the same; He is constant. In fact He promises that He will be with me in my old age, just like He was in my youth. Perhaps even more so, because I am able to take the time and recognize Him more. When that day comes and I am confined to my rockin’ chair, I know He is there to carry me to and fro. In fact, He promises that, “I will be the same until your old age, and I will bear you up when you turn gray. I have made you, and I will carry you; I will bear and save you.” (Isaiah 46:4, HCSB)
So perhaps, between now and the end of the year, I might come up with a few thoughts that will get you to pondering. Perhaps there might still be some kind of inspiration or even maybe some agitation to your gizzard. (I can usually watch the news, especially the politics if I need some added bile and gall to my system.)

Ira Paine

“I had a million questions to ask God; but when I met Him, they all fled my mind; and it didn’t seem to matter.”      –Christopher Morley

“Prayer is–an expression of mankind’s unity and relationship of love with God; an expression of mankind’s affirmation of and participation in God’s purposes for the earth.”      –Dr. Myles Monroe

Just to let you know the thoughts today are not all my own. I have often pondered the Lord’s Prayer, and I have heard numerous sermons on it, and read books and commentaries about it. Many of the ideas and illustrations are from “A Slice of Infinity: Praying for Bread” written by Jill Carattini.
One thing that has appalled me over the years is the “blab it and grab it” phenomenon. Some of it is close to the truth, but much of it is completely bizarre. Too often we want to interpret scripture to follow our own ideas rather than the context in which the Holy Spirit had it written. We take things out of context or we don’t even bother to look at the context.
Look at the words of Jesus, “Give us each day our daily bread.” Disciples of a rabbi “would learn to pray as their teacher prayed, and from then on, when a disciple’s prayer was heard, it would sound like that of his teacher’s prayers, bearing his own mark and posture before God.” (Carattini) So when we pray the Lord’s Prayer we are saying that we are His disciple and that we are praying with the voice of Jesus.
This is not the time to go into the concept of what is prayer. True prayer, however, is not about self, but about the Lord. How many times have you prayed and nothing happened? When that does happen we either give a cliché, or we say that God doesn’t really answer our prayers. James gives a little insight when he says that we often pray amiss. I can remember at times, once or twice, when I was playing ball and I prayed for the Lord to help me get a hit. I cannot remember if it ever happened, but it really was a silly prayer. The pitcher was probably praying, don’t let him get a hit.
Carattini brings out the fact that the prayer of our daily bread is foundational to life. It is a literal need to survive. We don’t pray for filet mignon and caviar but for the sustenance of life. This is a prayer for God’s care and His provision. Carattini, in her article, gives the words of Martin Luther, “[prayer for daily bread is the plea for] everything included in the necessities and nourishment for our bodies such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, farm, livestock, money, property, an upright spouse, upright children, upright members of the household, upright and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, decency, honor, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.” It is not just something we eat, but it is far more than that. It is prayer for things that are needed.
Prayer is not a lackadaisical piece of rhetoric. It should come from the soul of man, from his very being. Carattini writes in closing. “In difficult days, in plentiful days, the invitation of Christian prayer is the invitation of the Spirit to join a cry united to Christ’s–‘Give us this day our daily bread’–which is placed in the hands of one who called himself the bread of life and carried to the Father who prepares a table for the life to the world.”

Ira Paine

“Your kingdom come. Your will be done. On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.”      –Matthew 6:10-11 (NKJV)