“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven”
(Ecclesiastes 3: 1)
Just recently while reading a writer’s observations on a Bible passage, I came across a phrase that not only caught my eye, but immediately intrigued me and set me thinking of the depth of meaning behind it. The phrase was, The winter of old age. I certainly qualify to be classified as being, in the world’s eyes, old, and at first the phrase depressed me a little, then I remembered what was written in Ecclesiastes and the message behind those words encouraged me to live this season of my life even though it is the winter, with all the activity I can and still glorify God in any way I can
Life is of course, like the four seasons of the year. The Spring brings new birth and we begin the ordained life set before us. In Summer we are in full bloom, Autumn, we have grown wiser and not so foolhardy, yet the Winter can be a very satisfying and rewarding time of our lives as well!
Solomon left this wise message for his son and all of us to strive for;
“Grey hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained by a righteous life.” (Proverbs 16: 31)
Unfortunately, our modern generation sees the aim of life is to stay perpetually young to keep the blush of youth. The media perpetuates this by offering face lifts, tummy tucks, colour rinses to take away any grey hair. Old age is something to dread, not something to look forward to. Scripture sees it differently. Old age can be respected by the youth when they realise what the grey hair can represent;
“The glory of young men is their strength, grey hair the splendour of the old.” (Proverbs 20: 29)
Job reminds his friends;
“Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring about understanding?” (Job 12: 12)
We old people need to remember that we can be an example to the young people in our lives, so they don’t see crabby, complaining, elders, constantly bemoaning their loss of youth, always talking about what life used to be like, instead exhibiting the joy it is to know the Lord and allow them to see old age is not something to fear, but something to embrace. Psalm 92 has a beautiful passage which promises this will happen if we walk closely with the Lord Jesus Christ
“The righteous will flourish like the palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon, planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, “The Lord is upright, he is my Rock and there is no wickedness in him.” (Psalm 92: 12 – 15)
When I was a young child we used to play a fun game at birthday parties called “Keep it going”. Children were divided into two teams and each given a balloon which was thrown to the first child in each team and then the game was to keep the balloon in the air without letting it fall to the ground as each child pushed it up to the next child. We would all shout with enthusiasm.
When we, ourselves, have discovered the joy of following the Lord Jesus Christ, we are anxious to tell others immediately, so they too can experience this joy. Jesus has some important advice on how we can keep this going to his glory. When he tells the parable of The Sower. If we want the message to spread and grow. We must be deeply rooted in his word. Firmly nourished by it so we can keep it going and then be able to witness, and amazing bountiful crop of believers.
Just recently a dear friend attended a funeral of one of her friend’s husband and was very touched by a relative reading the poem “The Dash Poem” – Linda Ellis. The title itself is intriguing and I didn’t grasp the significance of it until my friend explained what it meant. Too often when we read the funeral announcement in the media, or we are studying a grave stone, we see the dates when the person was born a dash and then the dates the person died. The poem points out that the dash between birth and death is the life lived! How that dash is lived is really who the person is and how that dash is fulfilled is the most important information.
live life to the fullest they had the choice of ignoring God or holding fast to him.
My father was always quoting sayings to us children as we grew up and because he said them so often, many of them have stayed in my memory. One of his sayings was;
True love comes from the heart, not from what we say, not how many times we help at church functions, not how much money we give to good causes, not even if we are working to aid the poor and homeless. The only way we can have the love of Christ flowing from us to others if we seek him with our whole heart. We need to love from the inside!
I love David’s prayer which is a great one to start each day;
New Years day, here in Vancouver Canada, dawned crisp and cold, the mountains covered in a blanket of sparkling fluffy white snow. One of my granddaughters and her boyfriend planned an amazing trek up one of the massive peaks surrounding our city and rather than sleeping away the morning after the celebrations of the party the night before, they rose at 05:30AM, drove to the foot of the mountain, aiming to be at the best position to see the first sunrise of 2018. They steadily climbed until they had the prime spot. They were rewarded with one of the most splendid displays of God’s glory as the sun rose and filled the sky as only the Creator could with a breathtaking sight of shimmering yellows and golds as the mighty sun rose into the sky and sprinkled light on the snow-covered trees and flooded the mountain with day light.
attribute glory to the Creator inspired by what they saw around them.
God’s beauty is all around us and we need to keep looking so we never lose that wonderful sense of awe of the majesty of our Creator. The Psalmists never forgot who formed the earth and that the earth constantly reflects his glory
Christmas time in the city in which we live, is ablaze with lights during the festive season. Local homes are festooned with colourful light displays, lampposts in the streets have decorative lights entwined around them, shops use every opportunity to attract customers with cheerful lighting. The hundreds of lights dispel the gloomy weather of winter. The reason for the lights is to celebrate the birth of Christ, the King and we are made aware of this incredible happening by Crèches nestling among the myriad of lights, but as we approach the New Year and life returns to normal, slowly the lights begin to disappear. Some homeowners choose the 1st January, others the 6th January, but the festive lights all vanish as the New Year takes over.
None of us have any idea of what the New Year will bring, but we can be certain that whatever darkness may intrude upon our lives, we have this solid reminder that as his chosen ones any darkness will quickly dissipate and disappear, banished by his wonderful light.
absolute power to bestow his favour on those specially chosen by him. The story of Esther is a prime example of a king choosing to favour Esther when she attempted to come into his presence without being invited, to beg the king to save her people. The king chose to grant her his favour;
When we understand the significance of the word, favour, we can begin to realise that was an astounding song the angels sang to alert the shepherds that this day a King had been born and yes, his favour would now rest on his beloved family and it would come wrapped in peace, ready to envelop all those who would recognise him.
the amazing story of why that baby is the center of all the true meaning of Christmas, and knowing who he really is, we can have the same reaction as the shepherds and glorify, the Heavenly Father in all we say and do as we celebrate the birth of the Holy Child.
One of my son-in laws has and endearing saying he uses when he asks his wife to make him a cup of coffee and this is the term he uses;
Paul sums it all up in these words;
As I have written several times in this blog, words and their meaning fascinate me and when I came across the word, empathy, while reading, I started to think of its deeper meaning and why it is quite different from its sister word, sympathy.
So how do we become people of God filled with empathy for others who are suffering? To begin with we must be careful not to jump into a situation and blurt out, “I know how you feel.” The response would be, “How could you possibly know how I feel.” We must learn how to be sensitive to heartache and despair, depression and grief and the only way we can do that is with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Bad things often happen in our lives and in the lives of those around us without warning and we can be prepared for being filled with empathy if we stay close to the Heavenly Father. I love David’s prayer that prepares him for whatever is going to happen and a beautiful one for us to pray every morning before the day starts.
A very thought-provoking cartoon appeared on my Facebook page last week that I was glad someone had posted. It featured two churches side by side and at the front of the first one, appeared the title for the Sunday sermon;
Samuel did so and listened and became a mighty prophet for the Lord
God Speaking 