Past Prime

It appears that my house is haunted.  Every time I go to look in the mirror, there is this old, gray-haired man that stands in front of me, looking back in the mirror.  Or, of course, that just might be my own image peering back at me.  Of course it is, and I don't need a mirror to inform me of that fact.  Daily I am reminded of the fact that I am past prime.

The gray hair actually is a welcomed part of the aging process as hair that doesn't turn gray, tends to turn loose.  And, when it turns completely white, I can let it and my beard grow a bit and supplement my retirement playing Santa at the mall.  It's all good, when it comes to gray.

It's the other parts of growing older that I'm not so crazy about - the aches and pains; the reduction of strength and speed; the lack of stamina; the blurring of vision; the decrease in hearing; the challenge of memory....  Uh, where was I?  Oh yeah, past prime.

I am past prime but I'm not passed by.  The Lord is not through with me any more than he was through with Abraham who, being past 100 "faced the fact that his body was as good as dead...yet he did not waiver through unbelief regarding the promises of God" (Rom 4:19-20) that he would father a son.  Now, I'm nowhere near 100 but I do qualify for the senior discount.  And while 60 is predicted tot he be the new 40 in 2050, it isn't just yet.  Middle age is past tense for me.

However, being past prime, as Abraham illustrates so boldly, does not mean past promise.  I still have a future, you still have a future.  God has plans that include us, work to be accomplished that is to be accomplished by us, divine appointment to be kept by us.

I minister to people who are old and near death daily.  Some have given in and given up on life.  Others continue to find value and purpose.  One particular nursing home I see patients in is frequented by a particular old gentleman who, though bent and frail and slow, comes daily to play dominos with residents.  He helps them pick out their tiles, coaches them in playing, encourages them with his smile and tender patience.  He is well past prime but not nearly past purpose.

In the world of ministry, I would not be considered up and coming or riding the crest, I would be considered over the hill and heading to the back 40.  But that viewpoint is quite wrong.  I am on the other side of my years as a preacher, deep into my work as a chaplain but working on a new phase of ministry with God's help involving veterans.

I've been working on research and development for the past year and the implementation phase has begun.  I don't know where this work will take me exactly but I know that God is using me still to reach out to people in need and in the margins of society.  I know that while I am past prime, I am not past purpose.  Even my blogging is something I've started doing little more than a year ago.

What I'm getting at and hope you are hearing is that God has kingdom work for us at every point along life's way.  Our life is not over just because we are past prime or even if everything and everybody seems to have passed us by - God always has a place for us, purpose for us and power for us "to do good work, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Eph 2:10).  Jus' Say'n.