The Best of Life – Sunday, June 17, 1984
When we were young, most of us were admonished by our parents to eat our vegetables before the dessert. As adults, we are counseled to put business before pleasure. Most of our accomplishments follow this pattern. We put the time, the effort, the expense into a project, and then we reap the rewards and benefits. Those are the rules of life, we are told. But sometimes it seems life doesn’t follow its own rules.
Sometimes it seems the best parts of life come first. Early on, we have a healthier body and perhaps a more beautiful face and form. We enjoy the excitement and challenge of youth. We have what seems like endless years to accomplish our wildest dreams. Nothing is beyond the realms of our aspirations. It is as though we were having our dessert first in life.
Then the responsibilities begin to press more heavily upon us. At the same time, our physical strength begins to slacken. Our skin begins to wrinkle, our eyes may dim, and our ears lose their keen hearing. Our goals and dreams slide further and farther beyond our reach.
We become conscious of our ever-present limited mortality. And finally, we begin to acknowledge that some of the dreams of our youth may never be realized. Suddenly, it seems we are older.
Is it true that in life we have the best first, followed by a gradual decline in accomplishment and fulfillment—a gradual decay and a desolation?
At first glance, this would seem to be the case. And surely it would be if all life offered were the passing amusements of youth.
But fortunately, that is not all life has to offer, or even the best of it. There are joys and satisfactions that can only be savored by the senior citizens among us: the fulfillment of a job well done; a career honorably completed; the satisfaction of using our experience to help others along their way; the handclasp of friends we know are true because they have been tested; the deep love that can only come to people who have weathered many winters together.
So, if some morning we peer into the mirror at a new wrinkle or say goodbye to an old hairline, we may nurse a moment of nostalgia. That is only natural. But this can be replaced by a deep, soul satisfaction that we are learning lessons and building character that can only come from years of living. These are the deepest and richest joys this world has to offer. As Job said so many centuries ago, “With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days understanding.”1 If we achieve wisdom and understanding from our years on earth, our years will have been well spent, profitable, satisfying and sweet to us.
1 Old Testament, Job 12:12.
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June 17, 1984
Broadcast Number 2,861