Getting old is scary-–at least for me. Life changes as we age. As a missionary, I
know I can’t be on the field until I’m ninety unless God does reverse aging in
my body and so far I haven’t seen that happen to anyone. Or, have I?
Thinking of going home to the States will be a step of faith
if that day comes down the road. Funny, huh? Especially when you think what a
step of faith it took to leave for the field the first time. My greatest fear
is that maybe suddenly I will start walking around our village naked and no one
will call my husband because they know he won’t remember who I am anyway.
But humor aside, it's scary. Change is scary. We avoid it
if possible. At times, life doesn’t give us a choice to change. It thrusts us
into change, sometimes in devastating ways—loss of job, divorce, and the
hardest of all changes, death to those we love––even our pets’ death.
But, isn’t it comforting to know God never changes? He is
with us in our changes and uncertainty and always has our good in mind. My change
these last few weeks hit unexpectedly. A tennis elbow and golf elbow
diagnosis. No, I’m not an athlete and never hit the links or the courts—except
when my feet are up watching sports on TV.
But, my fingers and arms get plenty of exercise on the
computer. In some ways, I have enjoyed the pause from the computer, but today my computer fast
ends—my arm is improving. Just as we shouldn’t abuse our arm or any part of our
body, we shouldn’t abuse our soul by overdoing life in general. Now and then,
it’s good to come apart. After all, Jesus did from time to time.
Are you following the example of Jesus? Take a break.
Everything looks much less urgent when we concentrate on the eternal things
first. Who knows, maybe I’ll make it
till 90 on the field just because I looked for timely pauses and concentrated
on the eternal instead of the temporary. Simple, but hard.
God set us apart eternally! We can live apart from the world
daily because it is our eternal state. Eternal pauses rest the soul as well as
the body. Today and the days that follow, I’m attempting to make temporary
changes in order to make eternal differences with eternal changes. How about you?
“But when God, who
set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace,” (Galatians 1:5
NIV).