QUESTION: IS IT POSSIBLE TO GROW OLD GRACIOUSLY?

• Will your children want you around when you are in your 70’s or 80’s?

• What attitudes present in your life today have the potential of ossifying into unattractive

— even repulsive behavior in your old age?

Often, in my exposure to older Christians… even “saints,” so-called, I come away disap-

pointed.

Why is it that up close so many come off as self-centered, narrow and rigid… Prima donnas?

This is not God’s idea of righteous older people. Listen to Psalm 92:12-14:

“The righteous man will flourish like a palm tree, He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Planted in the

house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still yield fruit in old age; they

shall be full of sap and very green.”

Here the Psalmist paints a picture of flexibility… of reaching out… of growth. Of life!

In your social interaction with others:

• Do you make an effort to focus the attention on yourself, or on them?

• Is it your intent to minister, or to impress?

• Do you decide the perimeters and direction of the conversation, or do you choose to

serve by letting them make that determination?

Given your present social patterns, what will your attitude be like in 5, 10, or 20 years: Supple,

magnanimous and giving? Or inflexible, censoring and distant?

The attitudes you entertain today indicate what you are in the process of becoming tomor-

row… and in old age.

In the future, your children and friends may well have to live with the blessing or brunt of

what you are becoming. Are you happy with that prospect?