Now that I am old and gray, do not abandon me, O God. Let me proclaim your power to this new generation, your mighty miracles to all who come after me. [Psalm 71:18 (NLT)]
Every year, Britain’s The Oldie magazine celebrates the achievements of the “older generation’ by granting their “Oldie of the Year Awards.” According to the magazine’s founder, Richard Ingrams, it’s not enough for someone simply to be an “elderly achiever”—you also must show that you still have “snap in your celery.” This year, wanting to recognize Queen Elizabeth II for her leadership during the pandemic, the magazine offered her the honor of being their “Oldie of the Year.” The 95-year-old monarch, however, politely declined saying, “Her Majesty believes you are as old as you feel, as such The Queen does not believe she meets the relevant criteria to be able to accept, and hopes you will find a more worthy recipient.” What a great attitude; there’s a woman who still has snap in her celery!
What defines “old?” Is it a matter of years or mind? When we spent our winters in Colorado, we often saw Banana George (aka George Blair) in his signature yellow jumpsuit shredding the slopes on his yellow snowboard. In his eighties and early nineties at the time, George didn’t even learn to snowboard until he was 75. This stunt water skier and star of the Cypress Gardens water show was 40 before he even learned how to water ski! At 46, George started barefoot water skiing and became famous for skiing on one foot while holding the tow rope between his teeth (a feat he continued doing until he was 79)! George continued water skiing and snowboarding until he was 92 when, suffering from the devastating effects associated with Lewy Body Dementia, he reluctantly put away his water skis and snowboard. When speaking of George, his wife said, “He wanted to make people happy, so he did all these things and made everybody happy.” Banana George certainly had “snap in his celery!”
It’s easy for us “seniors” to consider youth a prerequisite for serving God and even easier for the younger generation to think of us as “over the hill.” After all, David was about seventeen when he defeated Goliath and Daniel and his three friends were in their mid-teens when they boldly refused to eat the king’s food. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were no more than thirty when they bravely chose a fiery furnace over worshiping Nebuchadnezzar’s statue. Samuel was just a lad when he readily answered God’s call, Jeremiah was only 17 when he became a prophet, Esther was barely out of her teens when she saved a nation, and Mary was barely in her teens when she chose to become mother to the Messiah. It’s believed that Timothy was around 20 when he joined Silas and Paul on the Apostle’s second tour through Asia Minor and less than 40 when he took charge of the church at Ephesus.
Youth, however, is not a requirement for doing God’s work. Abraham was 75 when he left Haran and headed for Canaan. 80 when he led the Israelites out of Egypt, Moses guided them for another 40 years. When they led the Israelites across the Jordan, we know that Caleb was 79 and Joshua was about the same age. Moreover, contrary to popular belief (and most Sunday school coloring pages), Daniel was not a young man when he faced those lions. 66 years had passed since his arrival in Babylon and, by the time he was thrown to the lions, Daniel was around 82! At that age, we’d expect a stroke or heart attack to finish him off before the hungry beasts could. Nevertheless, Daniel survived and continued to record his prophetic visions for at least three more years. Along with their faith in God, these men had snap in their celery!
We probably won’t be nominated as the “Oldie of the Year” or water ski and snowboard until our nineties but, like Queen Elizabeth and “Banana” George, we can continue to have a passion for life. Moreover, like those Biblical “oldies” we can have a passion for serving the Lord. Since none of us are old by God’s standards (after all, He’s older than time itself), our age should be determined by attitude rather than years. As Author Erma Bombeck once said, “When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and could say, ‘I used everything you gave me.’” May we all endeavor to keep the snap in our celery!
Here is the test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If you’re alive, it isn’t. [Richard Bach]
When visiting our daughter’s family in New Mexico one October, stormy weather caused us to switch from the pumpkin patch/corn maze outing to an escape room attempt. With just an hour to solve a mystery and “escape,” we entered into a room filled with assorted puzzles, locks, props, and gadgets. Knowing we had to discover clues and complete a series of clever puzzles, we novices decided to divide and conquer. Each person worked on a different task speaking to their individual strengths. I worked on word puzzles while others worked on number challenges, dexterity puzzles, combination locks, or searched for hidden clues.
So you, too, must keep watch! For you don’t know what day your Lord is coming. [Matthew 24: 42 (NLT)]
A pastor friend who’s led dozens of mission trips used to evaluate his mission’s success by the number of new believers gained during the trip. If the latest mission’s altar call stats did not exceed the previous mission’s numbers, he felt it was a failure. Like him, we tend to be number people who measure our success or failure quantitatively. Business success is gauged by the balance sheet, bottom line, and price-earnings ratio; financial success by income, the value of our investment portfolio, and the size of our house or the price of our car. Regardless of the sport, with their assorted BAs, RBIs, Yds, Gs, PPRs, FT%s, and GOAT points, stats seem to evaluate every athlete’s success. Social success is assessed by the number of holiday cards we send or receive, how many “friends” we have on social media, and how many “likes” we got on our latest post. Intellectual success is measured by IQ, SAT, ACT and GPA numbers. A pastor assesses his success by Sunday’s attendance (or the offering), the teacher by the standardized test results of her students, and the author by his book’s ranking on the best seller list. I’m no different; I often check my website’s stats to see the number of followers, visitors, and views.
Growing up, one of my favorite hymns was, “I Sing a Song of the Saints of God.” Its author, Lesbia Scott, wrote hymns for her children as expressions of the family’s faith. Not originally intended for publication, she wrote this song to emphasize that saints lived not just in the distant past but also in the present day. My favorite verse was the final one and I recall singing it loudly with childlike enthusiasm: “The world is bright with the joyous saints who love to do Jesus’ will. You can meet them in school, on the street, in the store, In church, by the sea, in the house next door; They are saints of God, whether rich or poor, and I mean to be one too.”
I thought of that great fixed chasm between heaven and hell again after reading C.S. Lewis’ fantasy, The Great Divorce. Lewis clearly warns his readers that the book is a fantasy, what he calls “imaginative supposal,” and should be read that way. He does, however, add that it does have a moral. The book’s unnamed narrator (presumed to be Lewis) describes what seems to be hell as a grey, dingy, and utterly joyless place where quarrelsome souls continually argue with one another and move further and further apart. Finding himself there, the narrator joins others as they take a bus ride from this grey world to a vibrant, beautiful, and substantial place that appears to be heaven.
Devotions of the Heart 