Redeeming the Time on Good Friday Night

I just love the way people with a product to sell love to tell you, "You don't have to have aches and pains just because you're aging. All you have to do is buy our product, and your aches and pains will be history." I am so tired of all that. And these dimwits who say things like, "Age is just a number." No, age is not just a number. It's gray hair and wrinkles and aches and pains in places you never knew existed. It's shin splints and back going out and ads that tell you if you sleep on your side you will end up with Alzheimer's. If age is just a number, why do so many famous movie stars and singers get cosmetic surgery that ruins their looks because they're trying not to age? If age is just a number, why do they keep coming up with more and more products that are supposed to remove wrinkles and crepey skin? Give me a break. It's just so ridiculous. Everybody who does not die young is going to grow old, and when you grow old, things happen. That's just a fact. You are not young forever, and age is not just a number. So now that you know that, what can you do about it? I maintain that you have to do everything you can to be as fit and healthy as you can, not so you can get younger or prevent aging, because that is impossible, but there are lots of things you can do to resist some of the degeneration that occurs in age and still feel good and enjoy life. Here are some things you can do: You can start going to the gym three or four times a week (more if you want) in your 40s, and by the time you're in your 60s and 70s, you may be as strong and agile as you are now. On the other hand, if you are in your 40s and think you're old, so you might as well just watch movies and eat around the clock, you can really limit the enjoyment you could be having in life. If you choose that latter route, you could also end up with all kinds of ailments and have to take a lot of prescriptions and have frequent visits to the emergency room or spend a lot of time in the hospital, getting one procedure after another. That is not how I want to spend my later years. What else can you do? You can stay interested in things you have always been interested in, or develop new interests. For me, that means read and learn. As the signs in our local library say, "Stay curious." That's a tremendous boon to staying alert and aware of all the interesting things there are in the world to learn about. You can develop a hobby. A lot of older people paint. I actually paint less than I did when I was younger. I have to fight the urge to quit painting. Because once I get started, the wonderful creative process kicks in, and there's nothing better than that to make you feel alive again. The most important thing you can do is seek God. I have been a Christian for 45 years, and that has been the best thing that ever happened in my life, because knowing God makes life worthwhile like nothing else. It is what gives life meaning and purpose and it is exciting and wonderful. It is difficult in many ways, but it's all worth any trouble that may occur as a result. Not everyone will be happy with you if you become a Christian, but once you realize that you only have to be acceptable to God and not everyone is going to like it, you are spectacularly free. Everything is better that way. I have no idea why I started a Good Friday night on the subject of growing old. I guess because my neck was bothering me. And that's another thing. I was experiencing some of those aches and pains I started writing about, but now they are not bothering me anymore. Why? Because I am doing something besides complaining about them and focusing on them. I am writing. I made a commitment to myself and to God to write every day, starting November 19, 2024. I just know I am supposed to do it. I don't have to prove anything to anyone, I just have to do this. I don't have to worry about it being good enough. I'm not even going to edit it, at least not now. At the rate of 500-1,000 words or so a day, I have already written a book, if I wanted this to be a book, and maybe a book will come out of it at some point.. I don't know. I just know I have to do this. So, that's another thing you really should do is find out what you should be doing besides getting old and cranky. That's the temptation. I know a lot of you are already doing that. I sing at a retirement center once a month, and I still work full time, but most everyone my age is retired. I guess they're just enjoying their retirement, I only know what that's like during the 10 weeks when school is out in the summer, because I work as a tutor and assistant kindergarten music teacher at an elementary school, going on ten years. And so, about Easter, or, rather, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. I am so glad that we are celebrating that, and what it means. It means Jesus Christ is Lord, and there is hope, mo matter what you're going through. I hope you have some time to look into the Bible and let God speak to you and you speak to him. One last word about age. Because age is not a number another thing to remember is as you get older, you really do need to rest more and you might not feel as energetic late into the night as you used to, so in other words, you need to use your time wisely, if you can figure out how to do that. I do not write how-to articles because I don't know how to do a lot of things I talk about, that is, not any more than the sort of things I'm recommending to you now. Everything I know that is helpful or positive in life I owe to Jesus Christ and learning to walk with him day by day. Read all of the fifth chapter of Ephesians, but I want to share from there: "See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. "Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is" (Ephesians 5:15-16). That is probably the most important piece of biblical counsel in the New Testament, and I'm going to leave you with that for now. I will be back tomorrow, Lord willing. Goodnight.