Ruth 4:15 He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age.
I have just finished writing the funeral homily for a wonderful lady who would have celebrated her 105th birthday on September 20th. The thing that impressed me over and over was that although Frances grew up, she refused to grow old. She bowled in a ladies league until she was 90. She learned to play dominoes when she was over 100!
I, too live with the precept that age is a state of mind and condition of health. I don’t like to talk about my age, not because I’m ashamed of it but because it puts a false label on my greater state of being. I read a book once that said you can fool your body into staying younger by thinking of yourself as young. It doesn’t hurt to try. I’m not afraid of death, because I’m confident of what’s waiting for me beyond that. I’m afraid of not living life fully until the very end. Frances had a favorite writing that she liked to share with others. I think it sums things up pretty well. It’s called On Youth
Youth is not entirely a time of life – it is a state of mind. It is not wholly a matter of ripe cheeks, red lips or supple knees. It is a temper of will, a quality of the imagination, and vigor of the motions.
Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old only by deserting their ideals. You are as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fears; as young as your hope, as old as your despair.
In the central place of every heart, there is a recording chamber. So long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer and courage, you are young.
When the wires are all down and your heart is covered with the snows of pessimism and the ice of cynicism, then, and only then, have you grown old.
When the wires are all down and your heart is covered with the snows of pessimism and the ice of cynicism, then, and only then, have you grown old.
Loving God, may we live fully the life that you have so graciously bestowed upon us. Help us to honor that gift by caring for ourselves and others. Renew our lives and sustain us at each stage of our life. May we serve you while we’ve breath. Amen.
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