The Beauty of Growing Older

Written by Ella Mae Tyrkalo

In our world of chaos that emphasizes youth, we seek to find beauty in our surroundings. We often disregard, or fail to see, the beauty of growing older.

As we grow older we find we can’t do all the things we did in the past. We often desire to do those things and yearn to return to those special times. We grow tired, we can’t move as well because of joint pain, our breathing at times is labored and we can no longer contribute as we once did. Vision changes make it more difficult to read, our hearing becomes impaired and we often need more rest during the day. We have trouble sleeping at night because of insomnia or pain and we become sad and discouraged at times thinking our days of helping or making contributions are nearing an end.

These feelings are a part of all of us as we try to age gracefully. We see our hair turning white and we feel ourselves failing in ways we don’t even want to admit to ourselves. But is that all there is to growing older?

Blessings of growing older

God created all things to be beautiful, including growing older. We should pray for God to help us appreciate the benefits of this phase of life. There are many positive things we can focus on that can change the potential negativity to positivity. God actually speaks of many positive aspects of growing older (Proverbs 16:31; 20:29).

Here are some of the many blessings that come with aging:

Technology allows us to access Church services in its entirety even though we may be unable to physically attend.

What a joy to experience the love and friendships of our family and friends. How blessed we are to have help when needed, phone calls to encourage us, respect for our wisdom of age and a deep love that comes only through God’s spirit.
How blessed we are to have a bed to rest on and food to nourish our bodies. God doesn’t always provide our “wants” but always provides our “needs”.
How blessed we are to experience God’s mercy and grace in our deepest trials, be able to thank God for His many miracles and share the lessons of these trials to encourage others.
How special to have to wonderful memories of years past to recall the times we have served in God’s church and experienced the miracles God gave us each day as we walked the road of life.
We learn to change our perceptions of serving as we look for ways to help in spite of our inabilities. We may no longer be able to serve in physical ways but learn to serve in other ways according to our talents and abilities. Most of all we can spend more time in prayer for God’s work and His people.
We realize we must depend on God for everything. We pray for strength to get out of bed in the morning, strength to get through the day and we come to understand, in a way we never have before, that God will never leave us nor forsake us.

These are all beautiful parts of growing old gracefully.

Never give up

Though our steps are often labored, though our eyesight is dimmed and our hearing is diminished, let us continue to keep the faith and run the race. Our adversary wants to see us worn down by making our lives difficult at every turn.

There are many beautiful things about growing older that we can only experience if we continue to walk the walk, never give up and always thank God for the many miracles that have made us the person we are today. God knows our frail bodies but he also knows our strength of spirit and resolve to continue in His way. We can be the strong pillars that won’t be blown down in the midst of spiritual storms and examples to those who come behind us. These are only a few of the lessons God allows us to learn as we experience the beauty of growing older.

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