Over the weekend, I turned sixty. Sixty! That’s very close to the traditional retirement age. The end of the road is coming into view. And many young folk (including myself when I was younger) have the misguided notion that the sixtieth year somehow marks a condition of significant decline in physical, and perhaps even mental, capacity. Sixty is “old.”
In my conversations with the seniors in our church, when the matter of my age comes up, it’s almost a sure thing that I would hear the comment, “Oh, you’re still so young!” Well, considering that one of them just turned 90 and is still up and about, I am definitely not about to refute them.
The truth is, as I advanced in years I increasingly discarded from my thinking that misguided notion about getting older—since what I was experiencing was far from what I had assumed. Sure, there are some of the aches and pains, diminished eyesight, shortness of breath, as well as certain conditions that demand (so the doctors say) some medication. Yet, I wonder how much of it is the inevitable result of advancing in years, and how much of it is more the consequence of wrong choices I made and bad habits I adopted in earlier years. And perhaps those choices and habits are still in effect today.
I am mortal. So the time will surely come when my body will begin to shut down, and I will return to the dust. But I do not hold in my hands when and how that will happen. And there is no virtue in worrying about it, or allowing the inevitable to distract me from what I have right now. It really is not the number of years that matters. It’s what I have done with those years … and what I will do in the years still ahead. I must learn to embrace the life that God gives with gratitude and grace. I must learn to entrust my life and my being to the Lord, and submit humbly to his leadership in my life. As the psalmist declares: “I trust in you, LORD; I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in your hands” (Psalm 31.14–15 NIV).
We all have our desires and dreams. For those of us who are young, the road ahead still looks long. It could look menacing or promising. For those of us who have traveled the road longer, we may look back and see all the twists and turns. But it does not mean we stop looking forward. For “no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2.9 NLT).
Whether young or advanced in years, the primary concern must remain the same: “But above all pursue his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6.33 NET). It’s about embracing the right perspective. And everything else will fall into their proper place in God’s proper time.
—Keith Y. Jainga