… outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being
renewed day by day. 2 Corinthians. 4:16
I read recently that when people are in their seventies it is the most productive period of their life. Since I am in my seventies, it made me feel invigorated to read those words. Especially after a forced rest this past year with my body screaming at me… “Give me a break!” Which I reluctantly did… and now that my body is getting back to what this article says it’s capable of doing, I am looking forward to ongoing adventures.
Wallace Henley wrote – “I don’t see getting old as a descent into a chasm. Rather aging is an ascent up the mountain into the light.” I haven’t literally climbed a mountain, although I have trekked up a few steep hills to know that literal mountain climbing is not on my ‘to do’ list. On the other hand, I have looked down from a gondola on a mountainside, as well as over a gorge at Hell’s Gate Canyon, if tourist attractions count.
Apparently eyesight becomes much clearer way up high because the light is much brighter the higher up one goes. Right now I think getting rid of my cataracts might bring on the same effect, but apparently they are not ‘ripe’ enough yet, so I will have to make do with this view!
Doesn’t this apply to life? The higher up you go on the aging mountain of time, the more you can see the trail that got you down through the valleys and up the slopes. The view is certainly sharper and clearer.
Hindsight of course is one hundred percent, and looking back down the mountain gives you a very clear look at yesteryear. You see where you have been… the steps you took… the paths that were secure and brought you joy, happiness and contentment. Or, on the other hand, the paths filled with potholes and pitfalls that brought poor decisions, painful experiences and sometimes despair.
I can attest that suffering gets you up the mountain real fast! The path you choose depends solely on the lessons you learned on the way up. For me it was usually the hard way (goes with my head) but when I learned to focus on the path Jesus told me to take, then Romans 8:28 was fully realized in my life… “when all things work together for good to those who love God and are called to His purpose!”
When you are high enough up the mountain you get glimpses of where you have been. Pictures of the past become crystal clear in your mind as you remember many childhood happenings.
Charles R. Swindoll wrote – “Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children.” I like to think I’ve left good memories in my children’s lives, but I know of times that I failed.
I hope most of my children’s memories are like mine when I was a young girl. Memories of my father playing his Steel Hawaiian Guitar while singing The Old Rugged Cross in his wonderful Italian tenor voice. It echoes so clearly in my mind from this mountain top as we harmonized and sang together. I feel like he is right here with me, perhaps it’s because he’s playing and singing right now? The Bible is full of music with heavenly singing and instruments resounding.
I also remember the first time I felt a grave injustice done to me when my sister took my hair brush and mirror and said it was hers. We had been given identical brush, comb and mirror sets as a gift by some relative, and neither of us was smart enough to put our names or some kind of identification on them. Needless to say we were screaming, yelling and battling it out when my mother came half-way up the stairs, peered through the railings and asked what was the problem? I indignantly stated that it was my brush and mirror, and she wouldn’t give it back to me. Of course my sibling in turn was yelling the same thing.
I can remember so clearly moms reaction as she took one long disgusted look at the two of us, gave a shake of her weary head, waved her hand back toward us, and without saying a word turned and walked back down the stairs. I could not believe her inaction to make my sister do as I deemed just.
That is, until many years later when I had children of my own. The mountain top view brought a clarity like no other view ever could. If mom had been wise like Solomon she would have broken the brush and mirror in half and given us each a piece. I’m so glad she was just being a very tired mom. I can’t remember how I got the brush and mirror back? We must have found the other set which shows how important the injustice really was in the long scheme of childish thinking.
Nothing in my mountaintop experience compares in clarity like my walk up to the top with Jesus. A zigzag course if there ever was one, made the climb twice as long and hard. I often was distracted by the things of this world which pulled me into the fog where potholes and wrong direction took me way off course. Jesus was very patient always lifting me up, dusting me off, healing my bruises, taking away my regrets, and encouraging and directing me back onto the right path. It’s a marvel that I ever made it to my seventies, and never would have without Him.
Now Jesus leads me on one adventure after another. He supplies all my needs, gives me time to rest and recuperate, talks to me through His word and most times if I am still, I hear Him clearly saying… “Here’s what I want you to do for me today”. As I adventure to do so, the fog dissipates and the Son illuminates the path, as I travel with Him further up the mountainside.