Age is not 'just a number'

I would be willing to bet the people who say, "Age is just a number" are not older people, as suggested by my little AI summary. Rather, my guess is it would be the younger people or the middle aged people who are trying to be nice to someone complaining about age and its limitations. Age is NOT "just a number." Whoever believes that could not be more wrong. I wish it were just a number. A few years ago, I thought I was going to do a lot of things I just don't feel like doing anymore. I had ideas for books popping up every day, and told people I was going to write them, but the years went by and I didn't write all those books. Recently I wrote dozens of songs. Now I write a few and sporadically. Circumstances enter into every life that limit one's ability to do things they once did. Athletes will tell you the same thing. Even movie stars, as they age, have to take different roles, or get turned down for roles or even abandon their chosen field. If there's one thing true about life, it's that there are changes at every stage. Things happen that you didn't expect, and the direction of your life changes. The book of Ecclesiastes, chapter three, talks about how there's a time for everything.That statement alone contradicts the notion of age being "just a number." Right off the bat the Bible tells us there is "A time to be born, and a time to die." And in between there a whole slew of indications that different stages of our lives are for different purposes. "A time for every purpose under heaven"... So how could age be "just a number?" We all know there are seasons (scientists might call them stages) of development, physical, as well as cognitive and emotional. Babies learn to crawl before they can walk, they cry before they can talk. There is a time for bodies to develop the attributes that ready them for reproduction. It does happen at a certain time, and there is a time when it can no longer happen.. This is a slightly depressing topic, I understand. Everybody likes to think they have forever to accomplish whatever it is they want to accomplish or succeed at something or "follow their dreams." But dreams require action. And dreams change. I have different aspirations than I did 30 years ago or even 20 years ago. I don't want to belabor this point, but I'll tell you something else that happens as you get older, something you have to work at, and that is the temptation to become critical, cynical or bitter. I am not saying there are not reasons to criticize the way things are developing, say, in today's culture. When my generation went through adolescence, the older generation criticized our music, our dress, and now I am in the older generation I do that to the younger generation. A lot of it is perhaps rational and just. But a lot of it may not be.I do not think that every criticism of today's youth is unfounded, and I don't think every criticism is just a sign of getting old or older people just naturally being critical of younger people. I mean I don't believe it's just a sign of old age. With age should come wisdom and with experience, hopefully, a mellowing or stabilizing. We should be more responsible, more mature, more aware, more engaged in life, for sure, but this idea that you can just be "forever young" is kind of a myth. It is true that older people don't feel old on the inside, usually. But that is no justification for the idea that "age is just a number." It's probably fun to put on a birthday card, but, frankly, it's dumb. Yeah, it's just dumb. When I get to my 80th birthday, it is not going to make me feel any younger or more vigorous for you to send me a card that says, "Age is just a number." I will know, and so will you, that that just isn't true. The Bible says we will live 70 years, so anything more than that is extra. And nobody knows how much time they have. People give away stuff when they get older sometimes, they downsize into a smaller house, for example. They start planning for their ultimate demise. They make wills, they plan for their burial. Well, not everybody does that, of course, but they should. Otherwise, somebody is going to be stuck with the expense after you're gone. I know, nobody likes to think about their life being over, but it is a reality, and along the way there are changes. I hate these books that say, "A Thousand (whatever) you should (whatever) before you die." That's creepy to me. I can't ever see everything I ever wanted to see "before I die." For one thing, there is less and less time as you grow older. Preparing for the end of life is important, and more important is preparing for the life that comes after death of the physical body. I am sure that we still feel young inside when we're old because our self is eternal, not old or young. There are just so many changes during the course of life that it just makes no sense to say "age is just a number." There are lots of sayings that are just kind of empty like that, and maybe I'll talk about some of them if I keep writing every day, but as you get older you adjust to the fact that you have lived more years than you have left to live in this life. If you want to have peace with God and live forever with him, you need to do something about that, namely come to him in repentance and ask him to change you and make you ready for eternity. This country is so saturated with the good news of Jesus that nobody should not have heard it, but we are becoming more secular all the time. Is it possible that anybody in the US has not heard about Jesus coming to die for our sins? It's hard for me to fathom, but I am from a different generation than the young people today. And I am from a different generation than my parents, and my parents from their parents. The world is changing, becoming more saturated with evil, and the Bible says we are in the "last days," not that the "last days" are in the future. They are not. They are now. You may not be an older person, but you know that every life comes to an end. I no longer believe that is the end for the real person inside your body. We have a soul and a spirit, and the spirit is what lives forever, but life in this body ends. Also everybody doesn't just "cross over" and live "on the other side." We have to get rid of the sin nature and Jesus is the only way to do that. Meanwhile, don't think you have forever to accomplish the things you want to accomplish. If you have decided to follow Jesus you have the option of asking him to guide you in this life, in which case you don't have to be anxious about all the things you want to acccomplish. You have a purpose. God told me many years ago that that purpose was "to glorify God," so if I'm doing that I can relax and just live my life, doing as the Lord directs, enjoying the relationship and the process. So, age is not a number, it is a season of your life in which you are closer to the end than you once were, and there are certain limitations that come with age. I found out a few years ago that long road trips were no longer an option. I got so exhausted driving across the country, a trip that used to take me 13 hours, but this time, even when I divided it up into three days, I was exhausted when I reached my destination. That's just one example. I am going to close now. Just let me leave you with this. Age is not just a number. It's a number of years, yes, but it's also a number of changes that happen, and many of them might affect some of your plans, so take it one day at a time and, preferably, do it with Jesus. Then you won't feel like you haven't accomplished everything you dreamed of accomplishing--or perhaps you will-- but the main thing is you will know God, and that is the best part about age if you have that. If you don't have peace with God as an older person, I think it's very sad to see old people pretending that they're still young and have another 50 years of life ahead of them, when they could have it all taken away from them in an instant. Believe me, it happens every day. God bless you.