I recently celebrated my birthday. Usually, with a few exceptions, my birthday celebrations are simple.They always have been. When I was a child my mother would bake a cake, slather it with frosting, put the right number of candles on it and that was about it. I don’t remember getting many presents. (Although there was the year my older, married sister surprised me with a particular, popular style dress that she knew I wanted. Sisters are good at that kind of thing.) But there are two things about my childhood birthdays that I do recall with fondness.

Our family had an unusual tradition of pulling ears on someone’s birthday. We would grab the birthday child’s ear lobe, and gently pull down counting up to their age with each tug of the ear and then with one final prolonged yank of the ear, we would add “and one to grow!” (I tried to implement this activity with my own children, but without success. We opted for playful birthday spankings instead.)

I also remember my father teasing me on my birthday about acting my age. But he did it with a humorous twist, always looking a year ahead of my actual age. For instance, on the day of my tenth birthday he looked at me and announced that now I was almost eleven!! He did this to me every year. This actually had a long lasting, positive effect on me as now I have a tendency to think I am a year older than I actually am, and when I stop to think about it, it’s nice to realize that I am not as old as I thought I was!

Children look forward to their birthdays, not just because of the party and the presents, but they are also excited about being another year older. They want to grow up! Children can’t wait to turn ten, and then they look forward to becoming teenagers. Teenagers long to be young adults and to reach that magical age of twenty-one. They are in anticipation of what privileges await them and what the future has for them. But somewhere between twenty-one and eighty-one, we begin to realize that with each birthday we are no longer “growing up”; we are just getting older. And getting older isn’t always easy.

Ecclesiastes gives a good, but bleak, description of what that means:

So remember your Creator while you are still young before those dismal days and years come when you will say “I do not enjoy life.” That is when the light of the sun, the moon, and the stars will grow dim for you, and the rain clouds will never pass away. Then the arms, that protected you, will tremble and your legs, now strong, will grow weak. Your teeth will be too few to chew your food and your eyes too dim to see clearly. Your ears will be deaf to the noise of the street. You will barely be able to hear the mill as it grinds or the music as it plays, but even the song of the bird will wake you from sleep. You will be afraid of high places and walking will be dangerous. Your hair will turn white; you will hardly be able to drag yourself along, and all desire will be gone. –Ecclesiastes 12:1-5 (Good News Translation)

So what are we to do about this inevitable process of aging? The whole idea of getting old can be disheartening and discouraging and depressing. How should we respond and act as we are getting older? Cosmetic companies and health gurus urge us to “defy aging”. That may sound good and inviting, but in reality it’s an impossibility. Our bodies do not and will not last forever. There is no elusive, magical fountain of youth. I like the concept of growing old gracefully, but what exactly does that mean? It involves acceptance and attitude. It means doing all we can for as long as we can. It is also the ability to laugh at ourselves and to be joyful and content in difficult circumstances. I recently saw this adage: “Forget about aging gracefully. Focus instead on aging gratefully.” I think the two go together. We need to guard ourselves against becoming grumpy old men and grouchy grannies.

Aging is out of your control. How you handle it though is in your hands. –Diane Von Furstenberg

Getting old is not without hope and purpose. The Psalmist recognized this when he declared, “I trust in You, O Lord. I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in Your hand.” (Psalm 31:14,15) In another Psalm, David attests to the faithfulness of God. “I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken.” (Psalm 37:25) It is this knowledge and experience that causes him to have hope in God and to call on Him even in his old age. “And now, in my old age, don’t set me aside. Don’t abandon me when my strength is failing…Now that I am old and gray, do not abandon me, O God. Let me proclaim your power to this new generation.” (Psalm 71:9,18-NLT) And through the prophet Isaiah, God gives us this promise: “Even to your old age and gray hairs, I am He, I am He who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you…” (Isaiah 46:4-NIV)

Hope and heart needn’t fade as we age. –Arthur Jackson in Our Daily Bread

I still enjoy celebrating my birthday. I receive phone calls and gifts from my children, and homemade cards from my grandkids. I also get to make the menu for my birthday dinner. Whatever I want! I especially enjoy being surrounded by family and laughter around that dinner table. But I am most grateful that God has blessed me with another year of life, another opportunity to live for Him, to trust Him, and to glorify Him.

So be strong and courageous, all you who put your hope in the Lord! –Psalm 31:24 (NLT)

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