Glory Crowns

Proverbs 20:29

English Standard Version (ESV)

29 The glory of young men is their strength,

    but the splendor of old men is their gray hair.

English Standard Version (ESV)

31 Gray hair is a crown of glory;

    it is gained in a righteous life.

Psalm 71:9

English Standard Version (ESV)

9 Do not cast me off in the time of old age;

    forsake me not when my strength is spent.

Leviticus 19:32

English Standard Version (ESV)

32 “You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.

Psalm 71:18

English Standard Version (ESV)

18 So even to old age and gray hairs,

    O God, do not forsake me,

until I proclaim your might to another generation,

    your power to all those to come.

My sister tells me that you know you're growing old when people start using the word "cute" to describe you again.  I don't know if it's happened to me yet, but it will, I'm sure should I gain more years.  As a teenager, when I considered my grandmother old, I thought it was cute that she held a Bible study at a local nursing home for people she thought old.  She had drafted her granddaughters to help by first driving her there and then by assisting the residents out of their rooms into a common room where she waited ready to teach.  She was a gifted teacher.  I now know how blessed I was for the privilege of helping Grandma to continue using her gift, even if I didn't realize it at the time.  She poured herself out into the lives of others until she had only herself to offer back to God.  I was never one of my grandmother's students; but, then again, maybe I was.

This is a song for anyone who might fear growing old.  God will never, never forget you.  

Don't Let Me Come Home a Stranger - Fernando Ortega