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 |