You old men are a different breed. I can’t even think the way you think. You smell danger five minutes before it happens. You make a lifetime of decisions in a split second of terror that would freeze most men. Then you put it all behind you with a joke. You go on back to living as if you haven’t just teetered on the brink of eternity.”
–Stephen Bly (Shadow of Legends)
“Even to your old age, I am He, and even to gray hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.”
“Even to your old age, I am He, and even to gray hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.”
–Isaiah 46:4 (NKJV)
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“My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.”
–Edward Mote
I wrote last Friday regarding the losses that occur during life. Since I received a few comments I decided to look at the remaining losses that come our way according to the article I read. One thing I want to say, all the things that the writer said weren’t bad. During life there will be losses and change will occur no matter what we try to do to stop it. Aging will happen, the seasons come and go, life hits us, health issues arise, career changes or no long is apart of our lives. Friends move, die, new ones come. Yes, life is full of changes, my real problem with the article was that there was too much humanism. Rarely did it speak of going to God’s Word for the answer, or seeking the Holy Spirit’s help in guiding, or praying, or …. See my issue? So let’s continue.
Hmmm, I can’t remember what I was going to write…oh, that’s it, the sixth loss that comes our way is the loss of memory. Here’s the answer: nutrition. Yep, health issues lead to forgetfulness, but also nutrition. Avoid desserts, eat more rosemary and turmeric. Change things in your life. Sounds so simple. But why not try prayer? Do we forget the comic “B.C.” where the man goes up the mountain to the old sage? The old with their sound advice. Yes, sometimes things will be hard to recall. Yes, some people do get dementia and Alzheimers. Fear might come when these terms are mentioned, but where is God? Moses’ eye was not dimmed, can we not have faith that our mind will be the same way? And if it does, I go back to my major premise–trust in God.
Here is another one I do not understand–the loss of faith. It would seem to me with a life of living for the Lord that faith would abound. I know for sure that the devil attacks using the mind, and he will use different thoughts and tactics as we get older. My Mom, bless her, would sit in her recliner, twiddle her thumbs, and get angry over the past. Regrets would flood her. I used to talk to her and would ask, “is there nothing good from to the past to reflect upon?” But she preferred to dwell upon her regrets. The past is gone never to return so why use it to buffet yourself? Hasn’t God been faithful? Dwell upon Him. His mercies are new every morning. Don’t age the winter of your life bring your faith low for in actuality it brings us closer to God.
Dreams. Dreams are gone, things you never did or achieved are no longer accessible. We have the notion that we must complete our “bucket list.” I could deal with this area for some time, but I will suffice that dreams that did not materialize are a gift from God. I fully believe the words of Psalm 37:23, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and He delights in his way.” (NKJV) God delights in our way and He directs our steps. Dreams didn’t work out–thank God. Many times they were false, materialistic and self-centered. Get a grip on the Word of God, not on lost dreams, and perhaps not even on creating new dreams. Thank God for “unanswered prayers.”
Then there is the loss of passion. Woe is me, nobody likes me…do I really have to get up? There goes our mind. The author says that the excitement about new projects is gone as is the fervor to set new goals. Why? Put this and dreams together–if someone would have told me I was going to become an educator when I was young I would have laughed. When strangers would come to the house I would run and hide underneath the bed. Then when I took my first practicum in college, I said no way! No way! I would not teach. Ah, but God had a different plan. I would not have dreamed of teaching and I spent a year short of forty doing just that. Isn’t God grand? Writing? I would never have thought that I would be writing books, yet I have now written fourteen novels. See…the bottom line is that God is in charge. Don’t try to create something that is not to be, yet allow God to work in your life.
The last lost are the “piles of losses” in our lives. Throughout life we tried to accumulate. For what? Loss upon loss. Perhaps we try to live too complex a life, we seek more, then more and have lost the simplicity of serving God in whatever capacity we can. When we dwell upon all our “losses” are we not being self-centered? Are we not seeking something more than the kingdom of God? Maybe we have forgotten that we should “hunger and thirst for righteousness…” (Matthew 5:6)
Yes, change is inevitable. No matter what, the gray hairs, the feeble knees, the wrinkles are going to come. That is if you live long enough. Too many losses? Hmmm, count the years, look at the miles–see where God has brought you. More and more I find myself trusting in the Lord. More and more I find my mind looking at the kingdom. More and more I hear the old hymns well up in my soul. Yes, we all have losses throughout life. But we also have the Good Shepherd. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:4, NKJV)
“It will be worth it all, when we see Jesus;
Life’s trials will seem so small, when we see Christ;
One glimpse of His dear face, all sorrows will erase,
So bravely run the race till we see Christ.”
–Esther Kerr Rusthoi
—————————-
“My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.”
–Edward Mote
I wrote last Friday regarding the losses that occur during life. Since I received a few comments I decided to look at the remaining losses that come our way according to the article I read. One thing I want to say, all the things that the writer said weren’t bad. During life there will be losses and change will occur no matter what we try to do to stop it. Aging will happen, the seasons come and go, life hits us, health issues arise, career changes or no long is apart of our lives. Friends move, die, new ones come. Yes, life is full of changes, my real problem with the article was that there was too much humanism. Rarely did it speak of going to God’s Word for the answer, or seeking the Holy Spirit’s help in guiding, or praying, or …. See my issue? So let’s continue.
Hmmm, I can’t remember what I was going to write…oh, that’s it, the sixth loss that comes our way is the loss of memory. Here’s the answer: nutrition. Yep, health issues lead to forgetfulness, but also nutrition. Avoid desserts, eat more rosemary and turmeric. Change things in your life. Sounds so simple. But why not try prayer? Do we forget the comic “B.C.” where the man goes up the mountain to the old sage? The old with their sound advice. Yes, sometimes things will be hard to recall. Yes, some people do get dementia and Alzheimers. Fear might come when these terms are mentioned, but where is God? Moses’ eye was not dimmed, can we not have faith that our mind will be the same way? And if it does, I go back to my major premise–trust in God.
Here is another one I do not understand–the loss of faith. It would seem to me with a life of living for the Lord that faith would abound. I know for sure that the devil attacks using the mind, and he will use different thoughts and tactics as we get older. My Mom, bless her, would sit in her recliner, twiddle her thumbs, and get angry over the past. Regrets would flood her. I used to talk to her and would ask, “is there nothing good from to the past to reflect upon?” But she preferred to dwell upon her regrets. The past is gone never to return so why use it to buffet yourself? Hasn’t God been faithful? Dwell upon Him. His mercies are new every morning. Don’t age the winter of your life bring your faith low for in actuality it brings us closer to God.
Dreams. Dreams are gone, things you never did or achieved are no longer accessible. We have the notion that we must complete our “bucket list.” I could deal with this area for some time, but I will suffice that dreams that did not materialize are a gift from God. I fully believe the words of Psalm 37:23, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and He delights in his way.” (NKJV) God delights in our way and He directs our steps. Dreams didn’t work out–thank God. Many times they were false, materialistic and self-centered. Get a grip on the Word of God, not on lost dreams, and perhaps not even on creating new dreams. Thank God for “unanswered prayers.”
Then there is the loss of passion. Woe is me, nobody likes me…do I really have to get up? There goes our mind. The author says that the excitement about new projects is gone as is the fervor to set new goals. Why? Put this and dreams together–if someone would have told me I was going to become an educator when I was young I would have laughed. When strangers would come to the house I would run and hide underneath the bed. Then when I took my first practicum in college, I said no way! No way! I would not teach. Ah, but God had a different plan. I would not have dreamed of teaching and I spent a year short of forty doing just that. Isn’t God grand? Writing? I would never have thought that I would be writing books, yet I have now written fourteen novels. See…the bottom line is that God is in charge. Don’t try to create something that is not to be, yet allow God to work in your life.
The last lost are the “piles of losses” in our lives. Throughout life we tried to accumulate. For what? Loss upon loss. Perhaps we try to live too complex a life, we seek more, then more and have lost the simplicity of serving God in whatever capacity we can. When we dwell upon all our “losses” are we not being self-centered? Are we not seeking something more than the kingdom of God? Maybe we have forgotten that we should “hunger and thirst for righteousness…” (Matthew 5:6)
Yes, change is inevitable. No matter what, the gray hairs, the feeble knees, the wrinkles are going to come. That is if you live long enough. Too many losses? Hmmm, count the years, look at the miles–see where God has brought you. More and more I find myself trusting in the Lord. More and more I find my mind looking at the kingdom. More and more I hear the old hymns well up in my soul. Yes, we all have losses throughout life. But we also have the Good Shepherd. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:4, NKJV)
“It will be worth it all, when we see Jesus;
Life’s trials will seem so small, when we see Christ;
One glimpse of His dear face, all sorrows will erase,
So bravely run the race till we see Christ.”
–Esther Kerr Rusthoi