Growing Old Gracefully

[caption id="attachment_725" align="alignnone" width="116"] One Day[/caption]

I Always Thought

You know, I had always thought that when it was my time to get old, I would do it gracefully. And I thought I was managing it pretty well until one day it hit me, "I can't say what the old folks say anymore because they are gone and I am in their place now." I have crossed the threshold from middleaged to old.  Aw righty then!

I was talking to a friend of mine yesterday and we were commenting on the seemingly high number of deaths that have taken place in our geographical area. Then she pointed out that of the four deaths that had occurred within the last month, three of them were younger than we are. That was a sobering thought for us but we talked about the fact that the Lord has already told us that death is coming, once in  "And as it is appointed unto men once to die..." (Heb. 9:27 KJV) and again in (Ecclesiastes 3:2 KJV).

Poetry Offering to Complete the Thought

I said that I would grow old gracefully

When my time had come

But the time has moved so swiftly that I

Did not realize that the process had already begun.

 

Should have realized it when silver

Sprinkles came to rest in my hair

Or when the silver became predominant and

The black was sprinkled there.

And let's not forget about that first twinge of knee pain

That at first came and went, but now

Makes you mind how you step because it remains

Or the windows of the soul that have gone

From needing reading glasses to full-blown bifocals.

I'm not a dunce and I do realize that I began to

Grow old on the day that I was born

I just did not expect the truths of old age to creep upon

Me so fast that I had scarce gotten used to the last one

 Before the next one had begun.

 

I used to hear the "old folks" talk about checking

The obituaries of a given morn

To realize that their name was not there, so

They knew that they had been given more time

To accomplish whatever they were sent to do

That's a jolting thought for me, fellowman

Does it grab you that way, too?

No, not jolting because we are going to die

But jolting to think about reading the obituaries

To determine whether one's name is there

That is a jolting thought, I do declare

I mean if you have left this life, don't you know it

Or am I being naive and in my ignorance daring to show it?

Well, at any rate, it is what it is and will be what it will be

But I have to make sure that I have done all of the tasks

That were assigned to me

And that I can answer in the affirmative when asked

About it by some afterlife attendee.

So, you get tired of hearing me talk about Jesus and His love

Well, fellowman I won't apologize to you because I want a home above

And my time here may be getting short

So this mission I have been sent on

Grammy Alma will not abort.

Doing What I Can, While I Can Because I Care,

Alma L. Stepping On Jones