How to Grow Old Gracefully

"Up until now my health has been excellent," said an elderly lady to her husband. "I wonder if I'll live to be a hundred?" "Not if you stay thirty-nine much longer," he retorted.

Regardless of our age, we should periodically take a "rearview mirror" inventory of our life up to the present, as well as a "windshield view" of the future, as David did in Psalm 71. Recalling his trust in the Lord from his infancy through his youth (vv. 5 and 6), he showed a resultant rare adolescent docility (v. 17). And his "windshield view" of his advancing age entailed zeal-fired plans to extol God's greatness to the next generation (v.18). His agenda admitted of no "rocking-chair retirement" on that score.

This psalm offers a God-centered retirement plan for all of us: ongoing prayer (v.3), continual praise (vv.6 and 8), and continual hope (v.14), rather than complaints of aches and pains with petualant nostalgic longing for the "good old days," Depending on the Lord's strength as our own grows weak (v. 15), we can use every opportunity to witness for him (v. 16) - which becomes a heart-song of love.

Those who love deeply never grow old. They may die of old age, but they die young - knowing that the best is yet to come.