Don't Die Until You Dead

There is no way around it.  We are all aging.  It happens daily.  It happens naturally.  In fact, it happens quickly.  The Bible says in James 4:14 that our life is lie a vapor that is here one minute and gone the next.

Some of the best quotes I have heard about aging have come from people who are aged.  These quotes give great perspective on life as we age.  I am reminded of what motivational speaker, Zig Ziglar, would say - "Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond to it!"  So how should we respond to the process of aging?  Here are three perspectives from people who have been there:

One dear elderly lady that was part of the church that I pastored in Indiana, and who today is pushing "triple digits" said this to me one day - "Growing old isn't for sissies!"  How's that for a fact?  It's true.  Growing old is tough.  It's tough physically.  It's often tough financially.  It can certainly be tough emotionally and mentally. This precious woman hit the nail on the head - "Growing old isn't for sissies!"

I think of another quote from a man I knew.  He was one of the past presidents of a Bible College near where I pastored in Pennsylvania.  This man forgot more about the Bible than I will ever learn.  But even in his old age - and though legally blind - he still lived life to the fullest.  His mantra was this - "Don't die until your dead!"  Now that is a golden nugget.  Even as the toughness of aging becomes reality, don't just curl up in a ball and waste the rest of your life away.  Choose to still see each day as precious and as a gift from God.  Don;t quit living.  "Don't die until your dead!"

I read an account of another lady who was 113 years old.  I have to be honest and tell you that I am not real sure I want to live to be 113 years old.  Anyway, someone asked her one day what the secret was to her longevity of live.  He answer was unique.  She said. "When it rains, I let it!"  In other words, she doesn't get all bent out of shape over things she can't control.  She can't control if it rains.  So when it does rain, instead of cursing the rain and being in a gloomy mood as a result of it, she chooses to simply "let it rain!"  Or as I would say it, "Control what you can control and leave what you can't control to God."  That will reduce a lot of stress in your life, and who knows, you might just live to be 113!