Growing Old With Grace

Grow old with me; the best is yet to be,
For some that may be true,
For others, age is a state of mind,
That makes them very blue.

The years behind were the better years,
The years ahead loom unknown,
The good old days are longed for,
The seeds have all been sown.

You wonder why you worked so hard,
With nothing much to show,
Someone else will reap rewards,
How much, you’ll never know.

Better sit in my reclining chair,
Flip through channels a bit,
Living someone else’s life,
While I relax and sit.

I’ll sit back and criticize,
Find fault with whatever I choose,
I can be moody, nasty, and mean,
I’ve a right to share my views.

It’s true that nobody visits me,
It’s true that I’m left all alone,
I earned my peace and my quiet,
Now that the children are grown.

I like when things are quiet,
I like to be all alone,
I’ll cut myself off from the world a while,
I’ll never pick up the phone.

I earned this reward in my old age,
I earned this prized solitude,
I earned the time with my chair and my thoughts,
I don’t want you to intrude.

But I never knew I’d be so lonely,
Growing old all by myself,
I wanted the quiet; I earned it,
But not to be put on a shelf.

There’s only so much TV to watch,
There’s only so many books,
The quiet around me is deafening.
Peace and quiet wherever I look.

I should have lived my life differently.
I should have allowed people in,
I should have enjoyed conversation,
Should have cherished the noisy din.

Growing old can be the best time.
If your eyes are focused on HIM,
There’s work to be done, He will show you,
There’s a Kingdom with souls to win.

There is no time to sit in your armchair,
Flipping through channels a bit,
A Gospel to share; the Lord to make known,
It’s time to stand up, not to sit.

Kingdom work has no retirement,
You serve until your last breath,
You love and you witness with fervor,
Until the day of your death.

And then when you enter His Kingdom,
You look around and you will find,
The ones that you served and you talked to,
Are there; they were not left behind.

Get out of your chair and start living,
Embrace all the noise and the din,
Don’t live for yourself; it’s so empty,
Live your life only for HIM.

Growing old with grace is a blessing,
Growing old with a job to do,
Growing old with joy and with purpose,
Growing old with Heaven in view.

________________________________________________________________________

King Solomon, known for his wisdom, struggled with the futility of life.
Meaningless, he said, everything is meaningless.

So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. I hated all the things I toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. So my heart began to despair over all the toilsome labor under the sun…All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless. (Ecclesiastes 2:17-20,23)

Life is meaningless, Life has no purpose.
Life is meaningless when you only look at things under the sun.

Life takes on new meaning, new purpose when you change your focus.
Life takes on new meaning when you look at things under the S-O-N.

We have a job to do until the day of our death.
We live to serve our Lord Jesus.
We love Him with all our hearts and minds and soul and strength.
We tell others about Him so they can know Him, too.

There is no time to sit.
There is no time to flip through TV channels.
There is no time to cherish our well-earned peace and quiet.

Get out of your chair!
Put the remote control down!
There is work to be done.

Go make some noise!
Go make some disciples!
Grow old with grace and really LIVE!

Amen!