Healing Rays of Righteousness

The psalmist paints a beautiful word picture of the aging person in Psa. 92:12-14.  “The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God.  They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, ‘The Lord is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.’”

Tomorrow is my 80^th birthday.  Although in many ways that number seems unbelievable to me, it is a reality I am trying to fully accept and live into.

It has been said, “It is not how old you are, but how you are old that makes the difference in your enjoyment or despair of life.”  And in my many years of being pastor and chaplain, I am convinced that most often this is true.  So how does a person age well?

I believe the biblical story of Moses provides some good insight into this question.  Moses is about eighty years old when he encounters God in the burning bush and is given a new vocation, responsibility, and lifestyle for the latter third of his life.  In his story, I see three attributes of Moses that I think are essential in aging well.

Firstly, Moses remained curious and interested about life.  Curiosity caused Moses to be open-minded and anxious to learn, even at eighty years of age.  I see him gathering news from the wandering herdsmen and traveling traders about life in Egypt; gleaning any bits of knowledge he could from his father-in-law, Jethro; and debating the virtues and power of the God he followed as he sat around the evening cook fire.  Call it curiosity or zest for living, Moses had it and it prepared him well for the greatness he accomplished in the latter third of his life.

For many people, growing older with changes coming faster than they can appreciate, the option of closing their mind and sit wishing for the “good old days” is a great temptation.  But, in doing so, they shut the door to possibilities and purpose that God desires for them.

I’ve learned that people who age well continue to dream and anticipate new experiences in life.  And so I’ve tried to remain very interested in the world around me.  Most often I’ve eagerly viewed my world as a place where I could participate in new, exciting, and possibly life changing ways.

Secondly, Moses had a sense of the sacred.  He had experienced a lot, both good and bad, in his eighty years of life.  He had every right to be angry, cynical and bitter about life.  He could have become another basket case of negativity and pessimism.  But he did not.

Instead, Moses retained a sense of the sacred in the everyday, ordinary things of life, and even in the difficult experiences.  I think he must have often marveled at God’s created world, and gratefully worshipped the God who spared his life from the Pharoah and continued to sustain and bless him.  And so, when he encounters the unusual in the bush fire, he covers his face, realizing that God has come near to him.

Cynicism quickly grows and flourishes in the fertile soil of ingratitude.  A cynical spirit does not see nor acknowledge God at work in the hard, disappointing experiences of life.  A cynical spirit robs life of purpose, joy, and zest for living.

Like Moses, I’ve tried to maintain a sense of the sacred in all of life’s varied experiences.  Most every day I’ve made an effort to anticipate and observe God at work everywhere in my life and world.

Thirdly, Moses accepts God’s mission.  This was no small, insignificant mission that God was calling Moses to lead.  It was big, risky, and filled with dangers.  To go back to Egypt could mean his death.  To convince a pure capitalist like Pharoah to release his human labor force; to lead a people that may rebel against his leadership in taking them out of Egypt and into a land they had never seen would be no easy task.  It is certainly not the kind of activity or responsibility we generally think fitting for a person of retirement age.

And, yes, Moses does offer excuse after excuse before he is convinced to accept the mission.  It is only after he is reassured that God has uniquely fitted him for the task and that God is calling him to this mission that Moses accepts.

I’ve seen and learned that people who age well remain committed to God and God’s mission for them in the world.  Their commitments give purpose and meaning to everyday living, which is so essential for their latter years of life.

The story of Moses suggests to me that God wants our entire life, including the latter years, to be involved in a mission of service for God and toward others.  To do so means we must remain curious and interested in our world, retain a sense of the sacred in all of life, and be accepting of God’s mission.  This is what I believe and hope to live into during the years of my life that follow my 80^th birthday.

“Healing Rays of Righteousness” – October 16, 2019

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Ray M. Geigley