Last week I shared why I think the biblical story of Moses provides some good insights into how to age well. I suggested three attributes in Moses’ life that I think enabled him to age well. They were 1) being curious and interested about life; 2) having a sense of the sacred in life; and 3) accepting God’s mission for his life.
As essential as I believe these attributes are, I am convinced that of first importance is our attitude about aging. It is critical that we examine our inner self to discover what is my dominant image of aging, of growing older? What is my attitude regarding aging?
Biblical wisdom states that our latter years are the glory years? “The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.” (Proverbs 4:18). By attitude and actions, Americans do not agree with this wisdom, nor the wisdom of Proverbs 16:31 which says, “Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained by a righteous life.”
Attitudes determine actions. Before you can move toward action, it must first be an attitude. Your current attitudes define both your present life and your future days. Change your attitudes and you will change your life.
Some years ago I heard the story of an eighty-three year old woman who was being interviewed for a video about aging, and she related a conversation she had with her son. She said, “I was talking to my son, Jim, the other day. I said, ‘Jim, I went to church last Sunday, and you know the church was packed with old people.’ My son, Jim, says to me, ‘Well, Mother, what do you think you are?’”
Suddenly she became quiet and after a pause, she put her hand to her forehead said, “I never thought of that. I never thought of myself as being old.” After another brief pause, she continued, “I always thought I was….” She didn’t know how to finish the sentence. She couldn’t find the right words to describe her astonishment at her son’s response. She tried again, “I thought I was….” Once again, she was befuddled and puzzled as to how to finish the sentence. Finally, on the third try, she said, “I thought I was … all right.”
I think her statement sums up for us what our culture tends to feel and think about the journey of aging. We tend to believe and act as if aging is not “all right” – that there’s something very wrong with the process of aging and that we should not be doing it.
I strongly encourage us not to let our American culture shape our attitude toward aging. I have seen and am convinced that to age well we must be firmly convinced that aging is all right.
We might ask why does God allow something so destructive as aging to happen. I’ve come to believe that aging is not only a necessary part of God’s plan, but that he brought aging to us as a gift. I believe that aging has purpose, and that purpose is to make us mature children of God.
Henri Nouwen and Walter Gaffney, in their book Aging, The Fulfillment of Life, define aging as “the gradual fulfillment of the life cycle in which receiving matures in giving and living makes dying worthwhile.”
When aging can be experienced with this attitude, then it can become a movement towards the hour when we say with the Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 4:6-7: “As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful.”
In their book, Aging, God’s Challenge to Church & Synagogue, Richard Gentzler, Jr. and Donald Clingan state: “Aging can be growing into the light in such a way that as we age, we see new visions, hear new sounds, and find new directions for living in service to God and to our fellow human beings. …aging is so filled with promises that it can lead us to discover more and more of life’s treasures. Aging is not a reason for despair, but a basis of hope; not a slow decaying, but a gradual maturing; not a fate to be undergone, but a change to be embraced.”
I believe that our aging has the potential for spiritual development and character refinement far beyond what we could imagine for ourselves. Our unique, individual, God-given gifts should improve and mature as we grow older. Our character should become more Christ-like as we grow in a deeply rooted relationship with God.
I agree with the person who said, “Aging is not an enemy to be conquered, but a friend to be cultivated.” Yes, I deeply believe that “aging” is God’s gift to us.
Perhaps a better question for us to ask would be, when did the process of becoming mature, which we see as a positive force, become the thief in the night that we see as aging? That question gets to the heart of the matter – our attitudes.
“Healing Rays of Righteousness” – October 23, 2019
Ray M. Geigley
Healing Rays of Righteousness 
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