Old Age and Gray Hair

Let's start with a disclaimer. This is not a post about beauty treatments to deal with the effects of aging! This is a post related to a couple of verses from Psalm 71.

"O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.  So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come."  (Psalm 71:17-18 ESV)

I can still remember when I first became acutely aware of this Psalm. Of course, I had been aware of it for most of my life. I knew there were 150 Psalms, so naturally there would be a Psalm 71. I had read through the Psalms countless times over the course of my life. But in much the same way you ride up and down the same road day after day, and suddenly wonder where did that house come from?, even though it has quite obviously been there for years, I had read this particular Psalm many times, but it had never quite sunk into my consciousness.

A few years before my daddy passed away, he must have had a similar experience. He called one day, so very excited, because he had "discovered" this Psalm. And he said he had found his purpose. That this Psalm would be his theme song for however many years he had left on this earth.

To some, the idea that a man in his mid-80s would suddenly have found a life purpose may seem incongruous. Allow me to explain. For most of his adult life, following his years in the Navy in World War II, my daddy had worked in the post office in our town. That was his career. And in that career, he dealt with people every day......helping them with their mail, but also offering a kind word or a helping hand, to all people, of all ages and all colors and all walks of life. In addition, he was very involved in our church, as a deacon and in many other capacities as well. And he was busy being a very good husband and daddy  Then the children were grown up, along came retirement, and life changed a bit. He spent most of his early retirement years being the full-time care giver to my mother. After she passed away, life changed again. This time he was older, less healthy, and wandering what to do with himself.

I can relate. Perhaps you can as well. Life changes once we reach the season where the children are grown but we are not yet "old".  Certainly I'm older than I once was, but I'm not yet old enough to be considered "old". I have some gray hair, although not a lot, and what I do have is covered up! I find myself in a season of transition. Those earlier seasons of life spent as a piano teacher and in music ministry are past. Those earlier years of leading a weekly Bible study are past, as are the days of being part of teaching a Sunday School class. My years of parenting young children into their teenage years and on into adulthood are finished. Any my stroke last year has changed my ability to do many of the things I was once a part of. It's a different season. A season which, even though it has its joys, also brings some frustration in wondering what to do now. Where do I fit in? What is my purpose for these years? How can I continue to be useful?

Many of you who are reading this post may be able to relate. As we get older, life changes. Children grow up. The role as parent shifts, perhaps to the role of grandparent. The career that defined you in your younger years no longer defines you, whether due to retirement or to some other circumstance.  Life changes. And sometimes those changes are challenging. Often when we reach this season of life, we're wondering where we fit in. What our purpose is now. What we're supposed to be doing. How we can still be useful.

My parents enjoyed daddy's retirement for a few years, until my mother's health declined. Then daddy had a new purpose, as caregiver. He filled that role lovingly and well for nearly ten years, until my mother passed away. After that, in addition to the loneliness he felt without his beloved "Bitsy", he was dealing with another change as well. Wondering what to do now. Where he fit in. What was his purpose.

Eventually daddy's health began to decline. Even so, he was still looking for a purpose. And he found it on the day this Psalm came alive to him.

"I've found my purpose," he said to me with great excitement. "This will be my focus for as long as I have left in this life."

And it was. For the remaining years of his life, with a renewed vigor, he praised God and shared Jesus with anyone who would listen.

May I be as faithful in that endeavor as he was!

"For you, O Lord, are my hope; my trust, O LORD, from my youth.......My praise is continually of you.....You are my strong refuge. My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all the day.  Do not cast me off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is spent.......I will hope continually and will praise you yet more and more. My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all the day.......O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come." 
(Psalm 71: 5,6b,7-9, 14-15, 17-18 ESV)