The Gift of Age

Growing older means growing wiser. Wisdom is a gift that the world needs.

Yesterday at church, we gained a new member. Her name is Debbie. She is just about to finish her seminary training and has served as a pastor for four years. That information on its own doesn’t sound particularly interesting does it? But, then she took the microphone and shared a little of her story.

She said she got called into the ministry late in life. She has been a nurse for forty-two years, a profession that already willingly serves others. She has grown children who are married and six grandchildren. She glowed with peace and joy when she shared the next part of her story.

She said when she got called to serve in the ministry that she asked God if He knew how old she was. She said as she laughed, that He wasn’t the least bit concerned.

I thought about her all day. She really was an inspiration. Of course, she’s the exception of how we like to plan out our lives. We work for a certain amount of years, raise our children, and build up a 401K and retire as soon as possible and live the easy life. We may plan on traveling or just relaxing in our twilight years. Not many of us plan on serving and certainly not beginning an entire new career where we are called to serve.

Does getting older mean we get take it easy and slow down? Maybe others should serve us for a change. Maybe it’s a matter of our attitude. But, more likely, it’s a matter of the heart and who our heart belongs to.

The Bible has many examples of God using ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things and age never seems to matter. Sarah was way past childbearing years when she bore Isaac and the nation of Israel began. Elizabeth was way too old to have children when God blessed her with John the Baptist. Moses was eighty when God sent him to talk to Pharaoh.

Mother Teresa served all of her eighty-seven years here on planet earth, even after a heart attack and a pacemaker and later heart issues. She never stopped serving.

Now I’m not saying that we are all called to foreign countries to be missionaries or to be nuns. Most of us aren’t called to go into professional ministry either, but age is simply not a factor when we are following Jesus. If God calls us, then He equips us. He made each and every one of us. He’s well aware of our strengths and weaknesses. He’s certainly aware of our age. He clearly doesn’t care.

Instead of looking at getting older as the end of the road or a time to wind down, perhaps we should think of it as a life with less responsibility that allows us to serve more freely. It could be if we open our hearts to the possibility of a new journey with God, but with all of the wonderful wisdom we have gained along the way, we may find that we are in for the time of our lives.

It might be something to consider.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂