Forever young

“I feel like an old man coming out of the pool sometimes,” says Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps.

Originally posted August 15, 2011, at Reflections. Republished with permission of the author.

Today we live in a very youth-oriented culture with so much advertising for procedures and products that make you look and feel younger. We know that people are living longer and that becomes an issue for health care, Social Security and all kinds of expenses.

But most of us don’t feel as old as we probably are. In fact, the new saying is 60 is the new 40.

All of this is very interesting except that as a sports fan, it’s hard to watch your sports heroes in decline. Swimmer Michael Phelps who took home 16 medals at the last two Summer Olympics said to reporters in a recent article, “I feel like an old man coming out of the pool sometimes.”

Tiger Woods at the age of 35, suffering from numerous injuries and a disastrous personal life, seems to be showing signs not only of wear and tear, but of aging. He’s not the only one to slow down or become a victim of the aging process. That’s been the case with lots of people. It seems like we don’t understand that after the age of 25, we are physically in decline.

In an article titled “For Derek Jeter, on his 37th birthday: forever young, except on the playing field”, Derek’s athletic performance is analyzed. He has recently broken the record of 3,000 base hits but has been injury prone and is beginning to miss a number of games.

In tracking his performance from his rookie year of 1996 through his most recent full season, 2010 — looking at stolen bases, slugging percentage, defensive range, etc. — you can notice a decline. The swing of the bat is not as fast, getting to the ball takes a few seconds longer and striking out becomes more frequent.

Derek is 37, still looks good but you can notice the receding hairline, the wrinkles around his eyes and the fact that he is not quite what he used to be.

The process affects us all

Then again, neither are we, because in this mystery called “life,” we are all given a number of days and as we progress, we all move into an aging process that will bring us in the end to death.

It’s the same for Derek, except he just signed a $51 million contract, which makes him a little different than most of us, but aging is the great equalizer and so is death.

I suppose what I am getting at here is mortality. Sometimes youth is wasted on the young and we throw away our days as if they were endless.

However, all of us at some point wake up with the realization that time is flying by. “Has it been that long since I graduated from high school or college or gotten married?” “Can my kids be that old?”

I call this a wake-up call that rouses our thoughts and our lives into the realization that we have to make the most of the time God has given us.

It’s the realization that moments are precious, people are important and we shouldn’t get caught up in the small stuff that prevents us from becoming the people we need to be and reaching out to the people that we care about.

Bob Dylan has that great song titled “Forever Young,” but forever young is an attitude. It’s an attitude of maintaining enthusiasm, interest and a lifelong desire to continue learning.

I’ve presided over a lot of funerals. Some people are able to put 95 years of learning into 50 years of life, while others don’t seem to accomplish much at all. Most of the time they are stuck or paralyzed in the past and never seem to want to face or embrace the future.

It’s really sad when people who are seniors drop out of things with the thought, “I’ve given enough, it’s time for someone else to take over.” It’s a negative mentality that makes you old.

Young in mind

You see, we are all getting old whether we like it or not, but we don’t have to have an old mentality. In fact, we can be forever young if we embrace the attitude that life is a gift with opportunities and journeys yet to take.

I’m reminded of Psalm 90 that talks about the shortness of life and likens it to grass that grows up in the morning and withers in the evening. The psalm tells us that we need to count our days and gain a heart of wisdom and that we need God to “Satisfy us in the morning with steadfast love…..and make us glad as many days…..and years” that we have been given.

For in the end:

God is our dwelling place in all generations.
And before the mountains were brought forth
or ever you have formed the earth and the world
from everlasting to everlasting, you are God

May God keep you forever young.

Find a link to Marvin Henk’s blog Reflections at Lutheran Blogs.