“All flesh is grass,
And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
Because the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
Surely the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of our God stands forever.”
Isaiah 40:6b-8, NKJV
I was pondering the beauty in aging during the month of May. May holds the highest quantity of my family’s birthdays: mother, father, sister, niece. It also marks the homegoing of my father and of course, May also hosts Mother’s Day.
This Mother’s Day was the first one during which my mom was living in our household. This floral arrangement was from that day, but this picture was taken nine days later, on her birthday. I was amazed that the bouquet was still so fresh. Almost all of the original flowers were still intact.
The next set of pictures is of a more fully fading bouquet. The roses are gone. Alstroemeria, done. The carnation and chrysanthemum petals are browning around the edges, but they are still quite lovely. And then the final mums are the last flowers hanging on.
There is a beauty in aging that one can glimpse from time to time when the posture of the heart is right, and when the perspective is clear. The beauty in a genuine smile, a fond memory in a moment of clarity, and the glory of mature hair. I think my mom has the most beautiful hair in the world. She still wants to color it though, at the age of 91. But I think even the drive for that is fading.
It is a good reminder to me that
“Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained in the way of righteousness.”
Proverbs 16:31, NIV
This, in a culture where the pursuit of never-ending youth has permeated humanity, and commodities that have lost their youthful shine are discarded for the next new thing. Beauty in aging is a concept that seems more distant than ever.
Am I saying that the older generation is perfect? Heavens, no. But they have to navigate this journey of life in a sea of humanity the same as we do. We’re just on different points of the timeline. But we are all navigating our own individual and collective journeys in interconnected ways. Mommy still prays for her children every night. All of them. She may not remember all their names or how many she has, during the day. But at night if she doesn’t remember anything else, she remembers each name and their children’s names, and she prays for each one. For this to be etched so deeply in her memory banks, she must have been doing it for as long as . . . well, what to me would be a lifetime, since I am child number six.
So when the Lord inserts this next command in the middle of a chapter on “various laws,” as the heading in the text states, there is good reason:
“Stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the Lord.”
Leviticus 19:32, NIV
So yes, Mommy lives with me. But that doesn’t mean life stops so I can be the best caregiver on the planet. Trusting God through a “reduction in workforce” and the subsequent search for replacement income, while simultaneously caring for an elderly parent, with honor, has been more of a stretch than I imagined it would be. But he is faithful and his word stands forever:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”
Proverbs 3:5-6, NIV
And so I’m still here with the Word, trusting him. And he is still here, with me. Proverbs 3:5-6 comes right on the heels of, you guessed it, Proverbs 3:3-4! 😊
“3. Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. 4. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.”
Verse 3 is enough, as a directive. Caregivers let me encourage you. It is by God’s grace that you have already bound love and faithfulness around your neck. That is evident in the care that you give. If it were not for the love and faithfulness bound around your neck you could not do what you do. But then it comes with the promise in verse four that you’ll win favor in both the natural and supernatural. That’s exciting news! We need someone to run this race with us who is in our corner, and we absolutely need the favor of God.
And so, this season, too, will pass. Mommy will one day be in the loving arms of Jesus and rejoicing with Daddy. That’s just a fact of this earth life. Lessons from this season will give me strength and experiences from this part of the journey, that will help in the next. I will be more equipped to do what I am called to, and I’ll be better able to encourage others in what they are called to, as well.
We are all navigating our own individual and collective journeys in interconnected ways. And we run this race together.
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