Sweetwater Presbyterian

Small in size, Large in Faith and Love

Devotion September 27, 2017

Greetings!!

Who knew that getting old was going to be so complicated. Now I know many of you will laugh and say - “You aren’t old, wait until you get to be….” And I agree. The older I get the less ‘old’ I think I am and then I think about what I thought about ‘old’ when I was much younger and looked at people my age whom I thought were ancient.
It often amazes me now when I go somewhere and someone offers me a seat or offers to carry something for me or does something for me and I realize it is because to them I look ‘old’. And 'old' often translates 'not able to do this or that'.
People for years have told me about the aches and pains of getting old and I am learning aches and pains and stiffness are a true reality.
I use to go to meals with people older than I am and think how strange when they would take their pills out at dinner and begin to take them -
and now I find I have to do the same thing!
Aging does seem to be a bit of a daily challenge as you find that there are literally things you cannot do any more (like roller coasters - how I miss my roller coasters but now if I ride one I am so sore for weeks afterward the 2 minutes of thrill just doesn’t seem worth the following weeks of Ben Gay!)
Going to the doctor with various maladies now garner the response of “It’s probably nothing - you know you are getting a little older…” so I do consider that now before picking up the phone to make an appointment. I realize that much of this getting old is just something you have to live with!
There is an advantage however of getting older - people seem to think that old people have earned a reward so often there are discounts at eating places or at stores. Ever look at the clientele at certain drug stores on the first Tuesday of the month - or at certain grocery stores on every Tuesday? It is senior day and us ‘old’ people get discounts on what we buy! Many of the fast food places give discounts and they don’t even ask they just assume you are ‘old’ as they look at I guess our graying hair…..
So it isn’t all aches and pains and pills and being treated differently, there are the occasional perks….
But now the biggest issue I am experiencing is that in a few months I will reach the magic ‘old’ age of 65 and what that incurs is sales people - ‘medicare supplement’ sales people who are descending upon me like flies on meat. The mail person is probably now well aware that this ‘special’ birthday is coming up because the amount of mail that I receive has tripled. Because the sales people who are physically invading my home, are also burying me with mail. You need 'my' medicare supplement!!!
Now my fear is that I know that there is a particular mailing I will receive from the federal government that I will have to respond to and I am really concerned that in all this additional mail I am receiving from the plethora of medical supplement insurance people that I will miss the one important piece of mail that I need to deal with.
It reminds me of when my children were seniors in high school and starting near the end of their junior year and all the way through their senior year they received tons of correspondence from schools wanting them to consider attending their institution of higher learning….. and now the mail is wanting me to consider buying their particular brand of medical supplemental insurance which is of course has better coverage and is less expensive than everyone else’s plans in all those other letters I am receiving from the other medical supplement insurance vendors.
Then to cap it all off, I received an ‘official and you can be certain it is real’ book from the federal government which is essentially the guide book for what I need to do to declare myself officially over the hump and in the ‘old person’ category.
A book - not booklet, but a book. Now I am about as interested in sitting down and reading this book as I am about cleaning the toilet (I job I pretty much detest along with putting away laundry and emptying the dishwasher).
Then I thought ‘If I don’t read it then does that mean I will never get ‘officially’ old - but then the common sense part of me says, ‘no, it doesn’t work that way…..’
But then I think how many of us who are believers in Christ treat the Bible the same way? Maybe if we don’t read it then we can’t be held accountable for the way we live - maybe we can live however we want since I never read the section that says “Love your enemies” or “take up your cross and follow me”.
Maybe in all the misinformation we are inundated with each day we miss the true meaning of the Gospel - Love God and love your neighbor (regardless of who that neighbor might be).
Do we treat God’s word like I am treating my new “getting old” government issued book - avoiding it at all costs while knowing that I really need to pick the thing up and go through it?
God’s word is a gift - God’s word will help us live our lives in a way that will give us a peace and a joy that we cannot find anywhere else. But - we gotta pick it up and read it..


Amen!



These devotions began in 2006 as a way to give us a midweek boost as we live out our lives as the people of God! Feel free to share them if you wish.