Old age is winter for many of us but for those who are wise and optimistic, it is the happy and fruitful time for harvest. Old age is like a bank account, we withdraw in the later years what we have deposited along the way. And it's not the years in our life that count; it's the life in our years (Abraham Lincoln).  Let's learn from the following insight inspired by the writings of an unknown writer.

Only years of standing in the weather, bearing the storms and scorching sun, only that can produce beautiful barn wood.

A stranger came by one day with an offer that set me to thinking. He wanted to buy the old barn that sits out by the highway. I told him right off that he was crazy.

He was a city type, you could tell by his clothes, his car, his hands, and the way he talked. He said that he was driving by and saw that beautiful barn sitting out in the tall grass and wanted to know if it was for sale.

Do not regret of growing old. It is a privilege denied to many.-Unknown

I told him that he had a funny idea of beauty. Sure, it was a handsome building in its day. But then, there’s been a lot of winters pass with their snow and ice and howling wind. The summer sun’s beat down on that old barn till all the paint’s gone, and the wood has turned silver gray. Now the old building leans a good deal, looking kind of tired. Yet, that fellow called it beautiful.

That set me to thinking. I walked out to the field and just stood there, gazing at that old barn. The stranger said that he planned to use the lumber to line the walls of his den in a new country home he’s building down the road. He said that you couldn’t get paint that beautiful. Only years of standing in the weather, bearing the storms and scorching sun, only that can produce beautiful barn wood.

Count your age by friends, not years. Count your life by smiles, not tears.

It came to me then. We’re a lot like that, you and I. Only it’s on the inside that the beauty grows with us. Sure we turn silver gray too… and lean a bit more that we did when we were young and full of sap. But the Good Lord knows what He’s doing. And as the years pass He’s busy using the hard weather of our lives, the dry spells and the stormy seasons to do a job of beautifying our souls that nothing else can produce.

And to think how often folks holler because they want life easy! They took the old barn down today and hauled it away to beautify a rich man’s house.

And I reckon someday you and I’ll be hauled off to Heaven to take on whatever chores the Good Lord has for us on the Great Sky Ranch. And I suspect we’ll be more beautiful then for the seasons we’ve been through here… and just maybe even add a bit of beauty to our Father’s house.

May there be peace within you today. May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.

By Tim Pedrosa

 
 

There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age. ~Sophia Loren

 

 

Tim