Why is it that we have such a negative attitude towards aging? It is true, there are some unpleasant changes happening like thinning hair, expanding waistlines, diminished memory. There’s also the realization for those of us with children that our kids are growing quickly and precious times of the past cannot be revisited, but why the despair? As I stand at the threshold of my 43^rd birthday, I find myself feeling a growing sense of panic. Life is going by much to quickly.

My boys recently found a box of old videotapes, which they were excited to show me. We sat down to watch that evening and the images of my much younger, baby faced, squeaky voiced children brought me to tears and a quick exit to bed. Feelings of loss to the past and dread of the seemingly quick approaching future overwhelmed me. The next morning as I looked in the mirror, I saw how the years have etched themselves into my face. I didn’t think "aging" would happen to me for a long, long time. Somehow in the busyness of life, 42 came and was just about gone! The long, long time was here.

Thankfully, my Lord had mercy on my stricken state and directed me to Luke 9:62, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." So that was it. Once again, my mind was being conformed more to this world than to Christ and His word. I was grieving the loss of my once fit, youthful figure when I should have been lamenting over my unfitness for His kingdom. I turned to Philippians 3:13-14 and read, "Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." I was looking back and yearning for the past when He was leading me forward to "hope beyond reckoning". I began to realize why the world can’t come to terms with aging. Those who are walking this life’s path without Christ will only find a grave at the end. That is why the thought of getting old only brings despair.

But we have hope through all the seasons of life. Elisabeth Elliot once wrote, "You can never lose what you have offered to Christ," because scripture says whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it. A.W. Tozer sums up the purpose of our lives as this: "We must trust Christ completely. We must carry our cross daily. We must love God and our fellow men. We must fulfill our commission as ambassadors of Christ among men. We must grow in grace and in the knowledge of God and come at last to our end like a ripe shock of corn at harvest time." If I am supposed to be putting my hand to the plow and accomplishing those charges, do I really have time to pine away for what is past? Better yet, do I really need to pine when those things that are most important in life, like my husband, children, family and friends, all of which I have offered to Christ, I will never lose anyway? Regardless of how much time washes under the bridge. Tozer was right when he said, "Anything short of complete devotion to Christ is inadequate and must end in futility and loss." And Solomon was wise when he said, "Remove sorrow from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh, for childhood and youth are vanity."