Do you love beautiful, old, abandoned buildings? I know I do. Elegant old architecture made almost more beautiful covered by overgrowth, a tree growing through the middle. There is a haunting beauty in crumbling places.
God has made everything beautiful for its own time.
My mom and I were talking recently about the art of aging gracefully. This seems to have gone completely out of style. Aging, that is. Everyone is so obsessed with youth it seems that aging, even if it’s graceful, has to be hidden at all costs.
The Bible says, “Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained by living a godly life.”
Proverbs 16:31 NLT
A crown of glory! Gray hair! There is an entire industry set up around hiding that crown of glory, among other signs of aging.
When Ecclesiastes says that God makes everything beautiful for its time, couldn’t that mean us too? Isn’t there a beauty in 40 that wasn’t there at 20? What about 60 or 70? There is a beauty to smile lines, evidence of a life of laughter and smiling. There is a beauty to hands that have worked so hard to care for a family, worked to support their loved ones. There is a beauty to that crown of gray hair gained by living a godly life. It’s not the same beauty that comes with youth, but that’s kind of the point isn’t it? That each year has its own beauty in and of itself.
God has hidden eternity in our hearts. We can watch our reflections change to see time passing, and maybe that desire to stay young is really that hidden knowledge that while the body ages it hides eternal souls inside. Maybe what you see doesn’t reflect how you feel, and that’s okay because if you believe the Bible then you know there is so much more to life than what we are living down here.
While the world rallies around youth, I think it’s important to remember that there is value, wisdom, and yes beauty, in age as well.
Training to be Batgirl 