Creaking and Cracking
Last evening six friends had dinner together. I was one of them.
It was so much fun and there was much laughter. It was getting later and we all decided to head home. As we rose from the chairs to head to the door the notable thing that connects all of us, besides our friendship, is the fact that we all have some ailment of some kind or other.
I would never say that we are old – just getting older and with it comes the realities of the aging process. Stuff inside doesn’t work right anymore.
One of the people at the table will have major surgery in a few weeks time, two others had horrendous headaches all day, two others just plain hurt most of the time and then there was me. I creak and crack now in every joint. I rise slowly with a bad back and couldn’t run across the yard if my life depended upon it. I am very slow. I can walk but not fast. And that happens only after straightening up slowly.
What happened to my once vibrant body that could do almost anything it wanted to do? Remember when we were invincible? I remember when I climbed mountains and was able to run cross country races of over 20 kms just for practice – EACH NIGHT. What in the world happened?
All of us became grandparents is one answer. No the grandkids didn’t cause it – it was the waiting for the grandkids to arrive that pretty much did it for me. The waiting let the years slide by and the body continued to slow and develop some of its problems.
I think that I am wearing out. I am like my old 1996 van… but I am a 1944 edition. I am rusting a bit now and the suspension is not what it was at one time. The paint is dull now and the doors have a few more dents in them… and the bumper has hole in it from someone else’s trailer hitch.
The conflict and turmoil is from the fact that inside I feel like I am 22 and can do anything. The outside however is 62 and refuses to do certain tasks when ordered by the inside. If the outside obeys the inside – then all sides feel it the next week or so. Yikes – what a dilemma!
But with all of that there is hope inside. There is a spirit that is not crushed by age. There is a life that will continually spring alive with the things that are happening on the exterior. It can possibly produce many different responses to stimulus.
When one of my grandkids does something crazy and then says, “Look at me grandpa”, I bust out laughing with them. Last evening with my friends we laughed deeply even though we were hurting. One of the couples had received some serious news that day – and yet we laughed together.
I have found a secret in the Bible when it says ….Proverbs 17:22
“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
Happy people make the journey easier. But people with other stuff than happiness dry everything… and make it tough for those around them.
Now I know that we can’t always feel on top of it all the time. I have found that as I have been studying some of Paul’s letters in the New Testament he has given me some secrets to consider as well.
In 2 Corinthians 4 we read the following…
7 But this precious treasure--this light and power that now shine within us--is held in perishable containers, that is, in our weak bodies.[a] So everyone can see that our glorious power is from God and is not our own.
8 We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed and broken. We are perplexed, but we don't give up and quit. 9We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going. 10Through suffering, these bodies of ours constantly share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.
That’s it… I now have a “Perishable Container” – my body – that contains some wonderful light and power that shines out of me… or potentially can shine out of me. It has been a “Perishable Container” for a long time – from the start – but it is now that the reality is hitting full force.
When verse 8 says “pressed on every side by troubles” that pretty much describes some of us doesn’t it? Then Paul goes on in his writing and says “but we are not crushed and broken”…etc.
There is hope when things are not what you planned them to be. There is still light inside when the outside seems the gloomiest that it can get. And when I can’t go it another mile God is there to help me. Paul finishes that paragraph with.. “so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.”
God understands what we face today. He has not left us alone. What a wonderful thought.
There is hope even in the midst of creaking and cracking. WOW!
It was so much fun and there was much laughter. It was getting later and we all decided to head home. As we rose from the chairs to head to the door the notable thing that connects all of us, besides our friendship, is the fact that we all have some ailment of some kind or other.
I would never say that we are old – just getting older and with it comes the realities of the aging process. Stuff inside doesn’t work right anymore.
One of the people at the table will have major surgery in a few weeks time, two others had horrendous headaches all day, two others just plain hurt most of the time and then there was me. I creak and crack now in every joint. I rise slowly with a bad back and couldn’t run across the yard if my life depended upon it. I am very slow. I can walk but not fast. And that happens only after straightening up slowly.
What happened to my once vibrant body that could do almost anything it wanted to do? Remember when we were invincible? I remember when I climbed mountains and was able to run cross country races of over 20 kms just for practice – EACH NIGHT. What in the world happened?
All of us became grandparents is one answer. No the grandkids didn’t cause it – it was the waiting for the grandkids to arrive that pretty much did it for me. The waiting let the years slide by and the body continued to slow and develop some of its problems.
I think that I am wearing out. I am like my old 1996 van… but I am a 1944 edition. I am rusting a bit now and the suspension is not what it was at one time. The paint is dull now and the doors have a few more dents in them… and the bumper has hole in it from someone else’s trailer hitch.
The conflict and turmoil is from the fact that inside I feel like I am 22 and can do anything. The outside however is 62 and refuses to do certain tasks when ordered by the inside. If the outside obeys the inside – then all sides feel it the next week or so. Yikes – what a dilemma!
But with all of that there is hope inside. There is a spirit that is not crushed by age. There is a life that will continually spring alive with the things that are happening on the exterior. It can possibly produce many different responses to stimulus.
When one of my grandkids does something crazy and then says, “Look at me grandpa”, I bust out laughing with them. Last evening with my friends we laughed deeply even though we were hurting. One of the couples had received some serious news that day – and yet we laughed together.
I have found a secret in the Bible when it says ….Proverbs 17:22
“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
Happy people make the journey easier. But people with other stuff than happiness dry everything… and make it tough for those around them.
Now I know that we can’t always feel on top of it all the time. I have found that as I have been studying some of Paul’s letters in the New Testament he has given me some secrets to consider as well.
In 2 Corinthians 4 we read the following…
7 But this precious treasure--this light and power that now shine within us--is held in perishable containers, that is, in our weak bodies.[a] So everyone can see that our glorious power is from God and is not our own.
8 We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed and broken. We are perplexed, but we don't give up and quit. 9We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going. 10Through suffering, these bodies of ours constantly share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.
That’s it… I now have a “Perishable Container” – my body – that contains some wonderful light and power that shines out of me… or potentially can shine out of me. It has been a “Perishable Container” for a long time – from the start – but it is now that the reality is hitting full force.
When verse 8 says “pressed on every side by troubles” that pretty much describes some of us doesn’t it? Then Paul goes on in his writing and says “but we are not crushed and broken”…etc.
There is hope when things are not what you planned them to be. There is still light inside when the outside seems the gloomiest that it can get. And when I can’t go it another mile God is there to help me. Paul finishes that paragraph with.. “so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.”
God understands what we face today. He has not left us alone. What a wonderful thought.
There is hope even in the midst of creaking and cracking. WOW!
posted by Murray Lincoln at
Friday, September 08, 2006
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