My wife and I went out to eat with another couple the other night. The subject of enjoying the golden years of our lives before we run out of time came up. I mentioned that time was not the only issue, but also having good health to enjoy our senior years was significant. That unleashed a firestorm. My buddy then proceeded to tell me of all his ailments.
I listened intently for a while as he speculated what was causing some of his aches and pains. He first described a condition that sounded like a pulled muscle and then went on and on describing every last symptom he had garnered throughout his life. Finally, I looked at him and told him that I’d diagnosed his problem. He eagerly awaited my prognosis and then I just blurted it out.
“You’re getting old!”
He and his wife both broke out laughing and he responded, “That I am!” – “That I am my friend!”
I have a cousin who is about ten years older than I am. He told me that as he grew older he found that he had more and more aches and pains each year. He found himself in the doctor’s office week after week for one thing or another. Finally, he decided that he would just get tough and live life as best he could and not go to the doctor unless it was something that appeared to be life threatening. Otherwise, he said, he would be there practically every day and waste the balance of his life looking for something that is not there to keep him young.
Now I find another ache or pain daily. Arthritis has found all the former broken bones from car and motorcycle crashes, vicious fights, getting trampled by horses, and so forth. Like a retired NFL running back I’m so stiff I can barely walk in the morning until I finally can get moving.
I could load up on pain medications, but that would only make it worse. I don’t even want to talk to a doctor about it. The key is to just keep moving. I have found that exercise and eating right adds quality to your life, especially as you begin to rack up the decades.
So here I am full of aches and pains; I can’t see or hear like I used to and I’m getting wrinkled up like “Ugga” the University of Georgia Bulldog mascot. So, what do I do? When I look at a receipt for something I just purchased, I tell the clerk that something is wrong with their printer. A look of concern comes over their face and I show it to them. I ask, “See how blurry it is?”. They laugh when they realize I’m just joking with them. It’s a little corny but what better way to deal with it than to just laugh it off . . .
I find that the trial of getting old is lessened by spending time with others who face similar trials. The Apostle Paul was almost always accompanied by other believers as he journeyed around the world evangelizing it. This demonstrates to me that we are stronger, more encouraged, and life is more fun when being together in unity rather than being lone wolves in the Christian community.
Seeking out good Christian friends and spending time with them seems to be the ticket to success – Just look what Paul did. Jesus sent His disciples out in twos, and they usually picked up others on their trips. This is His design, and we need every advantage we can get. An accomplished athlete once said, “As athletes, we’re always going to have aches and pains, but when your teammates cheer you on, you don’t think about it.”
I get it!
If you are aching and tired and see dimly and your neighbors complain that your television is too loud, and you can’t park your car straight on the first try, so what . . . Mark Twain said, “Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of eighty and gradually approach eighteen.” The problem is, we don’t! We pay our dues growing old.
And then we the followers of Jesus get to spend eternity with God in a brand-new glorified body that will never grow old. I await running through the meadows like a deer, pain free. I want to see like an eagle and never want to say the word, Huh? Again. Free at last free at last! I think focusing on that can make us forget many an ache and pain.
Philippians 3:20
But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.