Scripture
Do not cast me away when I am old; do not forsake me when my strength is gone.
~Psalm 71:9, NIV
Quote
“You don’t stop laughing when you grow old, you grow old when you stop laughing.”
~George Bernard Shaw
Alton MacEarchern refers to Psalm 71 as the Old Man’s Psalm. Dr. Wiersbe says that this Psalm is anonymous, we don’t know who wrote this Psalm. We do know that he was old and he had enemies. Why do we want to live to be old? Is it due to our children, grandchildren, and great grand children? I could possibly live to see all my grandkids graduate high school, this whould happen in 2031 [blows my mind to think about it]. Presently, I want to live to see the great grand boys make their parents look foolish because they have signed them up to play T-ball and I don’t think they are ready for T-ball. To ride on the side-by-side and play in the creek, yes: to play T-ball, no! It is going to be a hoot! Oh well it is a game and parents are something else.
I digressed so lets get back to the subject: we all want to live but we just don’t want to age. We don’t want to become dependent on others. We don’t want to be confined or isolated. We want to go to Krogers when we want to go. We don’t want to depend on someone else to take us to Krogers or the doctor. Besides, senior adults get everywhere 30 minutes early whether it is to the doctor or out to eat. If we depend on our kids, we might be twenty minutes late. I am thankful to be able to go, but the nursing home visits are getting harder; not on my body but on my mind. I am visiting people who are just a few years older than myself. I see some lonely people who feel cut off from the world. They see very little of family and no one from their church or neighborhood. It is heartbreaking.
My advice to you is to do something to relieve this suffering of loneliness while you can. If you don’t think of others now, they make not think of you later. Don’t make excuses: if you are able to go out and eat, you are able to visit a nursing home or a shut-in.
Extra
Christy and Mark got home about 10 pm on Monday night and Christy had a chemo treatment yesterday. Billy Turney {Keith’s dad} was feeling much better yesterday and is scheduled to move to Summerford on Thursday. Rave reviews on GRANDVIEW hospital in Birmingham. I dealt with three people yesterday and all three were super-nice. They made me feel like somebody. Reminded me of St. Jude.
Extra/Extra
Some of you will want to fast forward through this. It is not so much of a confession as a lamentation concerning people who do not know how to drive and should not be on the highway. I start with the infamous left laners. What part of slow traffic merge to the right is it that they don’t understand. Unless you are the fastest vehicle on the road, get the heck out of the the left lane ASAP. Some dumb blond, she looked to be in her twenties, drove all the way from Birmingham to Cullman in the left lane. Yeah, she was doing right at 80, but there were some who wanted to do 90. People like her cause accidents, not to mention road rage. While I am on the subject, there should be a law that prohibits 18 wheelers from trying to pass another truck on a grade, especially the hill going up to Dodge City. What is it about blocking traffic for miles that they love? It drives me crazy. Leave the left lane for speeders, emergency vehicles and preachers. If you want to sight see, wait until Sunday evening when I am taking a nap. I don’t like hip-huggers either. If you are going to pass me, pass me and get out of the way, don’t ride my fender. Driving would be fun if folks would give me space.