Thankfulness for Aches and Pains
Growing old is just another form of character development.
So many jokes, so little time.
As life’s clock winds down we discover ourselves becoming our parents, and then our grandparents, and then Methuselah’s older brothers and sisters. Our once vibrant bodies slowly sag and insidiously, it seems, betray and embarrass us. What was God thinking?
When we get tired of questioning why he allows people to die we then turn with the same straight face to ask why he allows people to live so long — meaning way past their “productive” years.
News flash. The problem isn’t God’s, it has to do with our limited eye sight.
We see at first the physical world so well we do not see anything or anyone else.
As you know, I love babies, but I also try to be discerning, and even though babies are precious and important, at that time in their lives they are completely helpless and completely selfish. They don’t care you might be having a wonderful conversation with a friend when they decide it’s time to eat or poop. If you don’t like it, it’s your problem, not theirs. This is their starting point in life. They begin with the assumption the universe revolves around them and if, as age-appropriate, they are not corrected in this distortion about reality they will make everyones’ lives, including their own, a miserable mess.
Part of healthy maturation, therefore, involves the discipline of reducing our own personal significance in the world and elevating the importance and significance of others — including the weak and helpless. This is most effectively accomplished through a particular God-centric worldview. When we see ourselves, regardless our abilities at the moment, as precious in God’s sight, then we can stop striving to prove ourselves to him and instead concentrate our energies on loving instead. In other words, our ultimate purpose in life is one of two options. We are either here to prove something to someone or we are here to love others as well as we love ourselves (and we start with that self-centered survival instinct so our love for ourselves, unless damaged along the way, should be adequate).
So now, back to the aches and pains of aging. As physical bodies and brains weaken, what can continue growing stronger is our ability to love others. That’s our best purpose in life and it is just as precious on the day we die as it was on the day we were born.
