Does the thought of getting older make you feel a bit anxious? It isn’t something we like to think about. But we needn’t fear it, because with God, the contents are more important than the package. We can feel at peace with getting older if we try to look at it from God’s perspective. Ultimately, it’s not the number of days in our life that count but the quality of life in our days. Jesus’ first miracle recorded in the Bible was turning water into wine at a wedding. The host of the wedding reception said: ‘Everyone brings out the choice wine first…but you have saved the best till now’ (John 2:10 NIV). And that can be the story of our lives too. We don’t have to suffer from gerascophobia, the fear of ageing, if we keep fighting, keep growing, and keep moving forwards. Listen to the words of Caleb: ‘For my part, I wholeheartedly followed the Lord my God…Moses solemnly promised me, “The land of Canaan on which you were just walking will be your grant of land and that of your descendants forever”…Now, as you can see, the Lord has kept me alive and well as he promised for all these forty-five years since Moses made this promise – even while Israel wandered in the wilderness. Today I am eighty-five years old. I am as strong now as I was when Moses sent me on that journey, and I can still travel and fight as well as I could then. So give me the hill country that the Lord promised me…So Joshua blessed Caleb…and gave Hebron to him as his portion of land’ (Joshua 14:8-13 NLT). That’s what ‘growing older with grace’ can look like.
