Getting old ain’t for sissies . . . but it ain’t that bad either!

Yes, aging is challenging. The aches and pains, the persistent stiffness, the decrease in mental acuity and physical dexterity, and short term memory loss are all natural consequences of getting old. 

Due to this aging process I now have a doctor for every organ in my body (well almost every organ), not to mention an increase in the number of doctor appointments I must make during the year. They do intrude on my golfing.

Those of us who joke about growing old often laugh at the prospect of standing in front of our refrigerator's open door and wondering why the hell we opened it in the first place. 

Not too long ago my wife and I drove about thirty miles to a SAM’s and as we walked into the store we both looked at each other and burst out laughing: We had forgotten what we had come to buy! 

But in spite of all this I wouldn’t trade where I am now for all the tea in China. Really! There are actually some great benefits in belonging to the advanced aged club.

For example, I get to play golf from the“forward tees” now, seriously decreasing the overall length of the golf course. I also get to use my trusty foot wedge now and again without being overcome with guilt or shame. It’s what old guys do. Sometimes we refuse to hit out of bunkers too, but not always.

I’m just blessed to be out there on the course, hanging out with my other old fart buddies twice a week. We have a blast and don't care who knows it. We even have lunch together after each round.

The older I become the less concerned I am with impressing people. This says more about me than it does about them of course. Impressing my friends was a big deal back in the day, but quite frankly there is now little correlation between what others think of me and my own self-esteem. I like me now, so that’s good enough.

The older I become the more I appreciate the mysteries of life and death. In other words, I no longer need the answers to all the big questions in life.

Really, this is huge! There was a time when I believed having the right answers somehow made me a smarter person. Perhaps this is why I always felt like I had to have the last word in any argument or debate. I needed to prove that I was right (life was always about competing). This was important to me. It made me feel really intelligent when in fact it really demonstrated how dumb I was acting.

Not so much anymore. The older I become the easier it is for me to allow others to be ignorant or uninformed without my losing any sleep over it. That’s their issue, not mine.

Which brings me to another big benefit of growing older: I no longer believe I can change anyone (including my children). I can’t begin to tell you how much energy and time I have spent over the years trying to change other people. The frustration of trying to reshape another’s belief system or behavior patterns is just too overwhelming. 

What others believe or how they behave is their business. So have at it my friend, I’m not your judge—thank God! I’ve learned to let them be them. Life is so much easier this way.

Finally, as I have grown older God has grown bigger (In my own mind that is). 

Now please don't think I am suggesting that God grew larger simply because I grew older, as if there is some organic correlation between my getting older and his getting bigger. But in my mind he has become incredibly larger than life itself. 

I no longer feel the need to compress God into a set of rational doctrines (let alone freeze dry him there) or written confessions. God is mystery in a good way. He is mystery that escapes all human attempts to define him in human categories.

He is the ground of all being and in him I move and live and have my being. 

This is good enough. I can wait for fuller revelations in due time—that is when my aging process concludes and time no longer matters.

So, threescore and ten is not so bad after all! 

Yet even age is a relative thing; my 86 year old friend Bob keeps calling me “young man!” 

Life is good!