Scott Kamps
Sometimes, aging leads to grief, anxiety – even despair.
Others fight the aging process with everything they’ve got.
With another perspective, stuntwoman Kitty O’Neil said, “Aging seems to be the only available way to live a long life.”
Tom Petty rightly concluded, “If you’re not getting older, you’re dead.”
I’ve always enjoyed good health, relishing my 45 years in this world thus far. That contributes to why I don’t dread getting older; I look forward to enjoying new blessings in new stages of life with my family.
I usually feel like each year is better than the previous. A good friend recently reminded me that I’ve said I’m in the prime of life since he first met me – 17 years ago.
The past year, however, revealed “I ain’t as good as I once was.” It started last year when confronted with the fact I was putting on weight like never before. I’d always eaten whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted and however much I wanted – without having issues with weight gain.
But last November, I came face-to-face with the reality my metabolism had changed and for the first time in my life, I had to make dietary adjustments. After some changes, I shed some pounds, steadying out at a healthier weight.
This spring, I had another development. In the evenings, words blurred together and I couldn’t see them clearly enough to read them.
Last week, I finally went to my first eye exam. The doctor explained the lenses in my eyes are stiffening and this would likely continue as I age.
So, I ordered my first pair of reading glasses and look forward to being able to see better in dim light.
While people approach aging differently, some aspects of it are universal.
Solomon described the aging process 3,000 years ago in Ecclesiastes 12, “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, ‘I have no pleasure in them.’”
He then describes the unpleasant physical deterioration that accompanies maturing in amusing poetic metaphors: “keepers of the house tremble” (arms/hands shake); “strong men are bent” (legs/knees/shoulders weaken and we walk bent over); “grinders cease because they are few” (we start to lose teeth); “those who look through the windows are dimmed” (vision deteriorates); “one rises up at the sound of a bird” (we wake up with the birds, wishing we could sleep longer); “the almond tree blossoms” (hair turns white); “desire fails” (hopefully a reference to desire for food) and finally “the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it” (we die).
D.A. Carson said it well, “I’m not suffering from anything that a good resurrection can’t fix.”
Amen.
Come Lord Jesus, come.
Scott Kamps writes a bi-weekly column for The Graham Star. He can be reached via email, thestableguy@frontier.com.