The porch swing pondering is just marvelous today. The Lord knew I needed some porch time. There is a delightful breeze and I’m loving it! The wind chimes are striking a morning sonata and the cicadas are loudly playing their musical instruments to the drum beat of the gutter dripping rain from the soft showers that just fell. I’m enjoying this symphony conducted by Mother Nature.

The bird feeders are full of fresh seeds and the songbirds are happily singing and flitting around. I watched a large butterfly ride out the soft rain on the top of a hot pink zinnia. A female cardinal almost had him for a snack. Life can’t get any better unless I see Chief walking up the sidewalk. If I see him, I guess I’m up there with him.

Pondering on this quote by Eleanor Roosevelt. “Today is the oldest you’ve ever been, and the youngest you’ll ever be again.” Ever think about the seasons of life and which season you are experiencing now. We can’t turn back the clock, it keeps on ticking. When we’re little we want to be “big” boys and girls. When we’re teenagers we long for the freedom of adulthood. When middle age comes we look forward to retirement.

Guess at my age I’m enjoying the Autumn of my life and rapidly approaching Winter. I think age is a feeling and not necessarily based on how old you are in years. Chief never seemed his age. He was the age of most of my college friends’ fathers. I was never concerned about our age difference but he thought long and hard about it before we married. I never doubted his love for me and our 21 year age difference never entered the equation for me or my family. We tied the knot and had 41 years of happiness before Covid took him.

Biblical scripture highlights the challenges and blessings of aging. Psalm 90:12 reads, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” This verse serves as a prayer for us to understand life is short and we should make the most of each day. God is always with us even as we age. Isaiah 46:44 reads, “Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you. I will sustain you and I will rescue you.” God will never push us away.

It’s surely wonderful to be young and even more wonderful to be older. America seems obsessed with staying young and thin and athletic. Society places a high value on youth and physical appearance. Many people think looking young is a sign of beauty and vitality. I love to see older people who are embracing the changes of aging, the white hair and all the wrinkles, the wisdom you can see in their eyes. Nothing wrong with taking care of yourself and trying to slow down the aging process. I’ll admit, I love my Oil of Olay.

Many Bible verses mention the older as silver-haired or gray headed. Proverbs 20:29 states, “The glory of young men is their strength, but the beauty of old men is the gray head.” I love the use of the word beauty in that Bible verse. We read in Proverbs 16:31, “The silver-haired head is a crown of glory, If it is found in the way of righteousness.”

Both young and old have their own forms of beauty and wisdom. I’m 69 years old and I love my age. Job 12:12 states, “Wisdom is with aged men, And with length of days, understanding.” I’m finally old enough to not care what people think. I think we’re happier at this stage in our lives. We’ve earned our gray hair and our wisdom from life’s experiences. We have the time to focus on what really matters the most to us — our family, our grandchildren, our friends, our faith. We’ve learned to say no and have earned the right to choose how we spend our days. The list of things we should do or must do is getting shorter. We realize how short life is and we’re finally comfortable with just being ourselves. We appreciate the little things that make our hearts happy. We love to laugh. And we have stories to tell!

“The best tunes are played on the oldest fiddles.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson