What a treat it is to have a birthday. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not even in the same class as my little bride. She celebrates her birthday all month long. Kind of works out good for her that her special day is might near the middle of the month. The first half of the month, she spends building momentum up to the "Big Day"... then the last half of the month, she just continues to enjoy and reminisce about all the fun she had in the first half.
I think that's really cool that she does that, but I just can't. For me, having THAT much fun is way yonder more work than I want to expend.
But as I get older and watch the grandkids have birthday parties and all that goes with it, I notice that between 2 and 4 minutes after the candles are blown out and the cake's eaten, all the celebratin' just kind of tapers off. It doesn't take them long to get back to just bein' kids.
Birthdays are beginning to last a lot longer for me now. I love the cards, the emails, the text messages, and the calls. But for several days after a birthday, I catch myself thinking, "Wow... I don't really FEEL old".
Maybe "old" is a state of mind rather than a state... Nah... it's a state all right, it just takes the mind a little longer to accept it as a reality.
I read a funny poem about getting older the other day.
A Little Mixed Up
Author Unknown
Just want you to know that I'm still livin'
I'm not among the dead
But I am a bit more forgetful
And sometimes mixed up in my head.
Sometimes I'm just standin' there
At the bottom of the stairs
I can't remember if I was going up for something
Or if I just came down from there
Or like standin' in front of the refrigerator
And my mind is filled with doubt
I can't remember if I just put somethin' in there
Or came to get some out
I'm gettin' used to all the noise
As my joints all creak and pop
And trips to bathroom are an adventure
Cause sometimes I can't start, and others I can't stop
I'm used to my arthritis
And to these false teeth I'm resigned
I've learned to manage my bi-focals
But dear Lord, I miss my mind.
I know getting older means different things to different people, but for me, I suppose the biggest problem with aging is hair. It ceases to grow where you would normally think hair would grow, and it moves to different locations on your head. Like my nose. Yeah, my nose. Some mornings I wake up and go to the bathroom, look in the mirror and there's a 3 inch long hair growing on the point of my nose. How'd it get THERE? It wasn't there yesterday. When you reach 60 years of age, one hair on your nose can grow 3 to 5 inches during 8 hours of sleep... THAT'S a scientific fact... it happens all the time.
Sometimes, when the light is just right, I look in the mirror and I can see 1 long hair growing out the top of one of my ears. What's it doing THERE? Another scientific fact is that these can also grow to great lengths overnight.
But there are some REAL advantages to getting older. Like losing your hearing. You don't have to pretend to be interested in something someone is saying if you can't hear them say it. And there is some blessings that go along with the accusations of having "selective" hearing. The blessing is that YOU get to select when it works and when it doesn't. You just have to be very careful not to EVER admit it.
You can spill food down the front of your shirt and nobody ever thinks a thing about when you get older. They just think, "Awww... poor guy". You don't have to worry about being careful when you eat... you can just enjoy it... the shirt will wash.
But there is ONE MORE thing about getting older. And if I'm totally honest about it, I would have to say that it's my favorite thing about aging. No matter how old I get... no matter how much harder it gets to keep the spring in my step... no matter how many MORE birthdays I will get to enjoy... I'm still a child in my God's eyes. WOW!!! Think about THAT!!! We will ALWAYS be His child, no matter how old we get.
And when I think about the love my Father has for me, His child, I can't help but feel younger, no matter how old I get.
But then, "Hey, It's Just A Thought".
Pastor Eddy
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