The length of our days is seventy years- or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away. Psalm 90:10
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Colossians 3:1
Last month we spent a few days at our family’s lake cabin in Illinois, connecting with many of our kids and grandkids. This cabin was bequeathed to my husband and his siblings by the aunt who built and owned it for many years before her passing. Every time we go there, we think of Aunt Barb and her warm hospitality to cheerfully open the door to family and friends alike. Now we tell our grandkids about this sweet lady who generously shared and in a very real sense continues to share her cabin with us.
Cabin times go back many years, giving us rich reminders of family who are no longer with us- aunts, grandparents, parent. We used to be the younger generation, now Dave and I are the “old folks” who open the cabin door to the generations below us! We are the grandparents watching our grandkids tube behind the boat while our kids drive it!
Growing old is bittersweet. It involves losses and suffering along the way. Losses of dear family members and growing limitations in our own lives- impaired hearing, seeing, moving, remembering; sagging frames and faces, and increased health issues. As my mother often used to wryly say to me with a smile, “See what you have to look forward to!”
But notice, I used the word bittersweet in the paragraph above. Although aging is painful, it is also exciting. It’s exciting because each day brings me closer to my real home and to real living that beats any cabin or vacation down here! As I fix my eyes on the things above, I can relax about the “downers” of this life. I can even embrace the fact that I am getting old and rejoice! Hallelujah! With each day that passes, I’m that much closer to home; and that home will be forever mine!
So we fix our eyes on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:18