Growing Old

Most people like the prospect of prolonging their days and growing old, so long as they enjoy fairly good health, and their lives are satisfactory in terms of financial security and meaningful social connections. However, there eventually comes a point where the Bible says: “The evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, ‘I have no delight in them’” (Ecclesiastes 12:1). These “evil days” are the inevitable years where the mind and the body begin to deteriorate; walking becomes difficult and running is out of the question, memory begins to fade, hearing becomes strained, seeing cannot function without glasses, teeth go missing, hair disappears or turns white, aches and pains proliferate, prescription medications abound, and lying on a sickbed or sitting mindlessly in a chair becomes a daily routine, while sexual desire and/or sexual performance becomes virtually non-existent. This is why the Bible admonishes people to “remember one’s Creator in the days of one’s youth” because time and life have an uncanny way of hardening people and cementing them in their ways.