Leadership Thought: How to Stay Young When You're Getting Old.

Dear Friends,

I recently read the following perspective on growing old, which is something each of us is doing regardless of our age. It made me laugh when I read, “You know you are getting older when your dreams are reruns; The stewardess offers coffee, tea, or milk of magnesia; You sit in a rocking chair and can't get it started; Everything hurts, and what doesn't hurt doesn't work; A pretty girl prompts your pacemaker to lift the garage door; You sink your teeth into a juicy steak, and they stay there."

All this got me to thinking about Joshua who never found age a deterrent to accepting new challenges. “When Joshua was old and well advanced in years, the Lord said to him, you are very old and there are still very large areas of land to be taken over” (Joshua 13:1). Joshua didn’t miss God’s hint.

I thought to myself, but what about retirement. Hadn't Joshua done enough already? Why not simply coast through the rest of life and enjoy your grandchildren? But no, Joshua had things to do and places to go. He wasn't about to retire from Kingdom business.

And then just a chapter later we meet Joshua's buddy, Caleb, who said, “Today I’m 85 years old, and I'm still as strong as the day Moses sent me out; I'm just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now give me this mountain” (Joshua 14:11). Good ‘ole’ Caleb knew there 'ain't no mountain high enough’ to deter him from his next climbing challenge.

At 85, Caleb is not ready to retire, but he's still looking for a challenging assignment. His cry was not for some easy place of retirement, but rather, “Give me this mountain.”

It is true as someone said that “Youth is not only a time of life, but also a state of mind.” As I move through my later years, I hope that I can remain as vigorous and as youthful as Joshua and Caleb were in their 80’s.

I hope that I can be as productive as George Bernard Shaw, who was 94 when one of his plays was first produced, or Benjamin Franklin who helped frame the constitution at the ripe old age of 81, or my church friend Richard Winters who's 92, and who became a believer in his late 70’s and is quickly making up for lost time when it comes to doing kingdom business.

We are never too young or too old to serve the Lord. Age has little to do with ability. Just remember that the next time you're tempted to use age as an excuse, for age has nothing to do with dreams and determination and vision.

Let me close with Chuck Swindoll’s “5 Tips for Staying Young"

1.  “Your mind is not old, keep developing it.”

2.  “Your humor is not over, keep enjoying it.”

3.  “Your strength is not gone, keep using it.”

4.  “Your opportunities have not vanished, keep pursuing them.”

5.  “God is not dead, keep seeking him". 

(Taken from the Tale of the Tardy Oxcart, Charles Swindoll, p.27).

Good advice, hey?

Have a great day.

Your friend in the faith and still gazing at the next mountain,

Tom

P.S. Remember, "Life is like a roll of toilet paper, The closer you get to the end, the faster it goes."