Grateful for Old Age

Browning said about old age, "the best is yet to be..."  and in some ways his words continue to ring true.  There are, of course, some things I no longer do, but then I do not need to jump fences, or grab a sixty pound bale of hay and throw it on a moving wagon, or get somewhere quickly, or stay awake in the afternoon when there is an opportunity for a nap.  And while old age can bring its challenges, it is also true that the blessing of years gives us the blessing of memories and the blessings of time to sit still, think quietly, and to pay attention to things always visible, but never really seen.    

Many of those I counted as friends in earlier years were not granted the blessing of old age.  I have frequently wondered why while at the same time wondering why they have been given to me.  Some things have no answers no matter how much time is spent pondering them and such pondering belongs to that category.  What I do know is that I am grateful.  Old age has given me a moment to do some things I never knew how much I wanted to do them, it has given me time to heal some brokenness, and opportunites to experience God's presence in new and fresh ways.    

The years beyond retirement have enabled me to see a church that is far more expansive and invisble than the institutional church which I served, it has given me a faith that is not so much church centered as Creation centered, and it has caused me to understand more fully what the poet meant with the words that "Earth is crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God..."  I learned these words as a young boy in high school literature class, but old age has enabled me see its truth with the eyes that see what the eyes cannot see.