[An article written for the 1999 International Year of the Older Person].

Grey hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life. (Proverbs 16:31) Even to your old age I am he, even when you turn grey I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save. (Isaiah 46:4) Suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. (Romans 5:3-5)

'Growing old is like being increasingly penalized for a crime you haven't committed' (Anthony Powell). Old age is, without question, one of the most difficult and challenging of life's stages of growth and development. If you ask people the benefits of getting older, often they won't be able to list any. Actually, 'growing old' is a contradiction in terms: you really can't grow old; you can only grow new! The Apostle Paul wrote about the importance of putting off the old self, and being renewed, clothed with a new self (Ephesians 4: 22-24).

Today the Baptist Press emailed this story:

100-year-old's retirement may have to wait 'til 130 (by Jason Skinner)

GARDENDALE, Ala. (BP)--When Lee Roy Hicks retired at the age of 65, he wasn't exactly sure how he would be spending his twilight years.

But there is one item Hicks purposely left off his retirement agenda: stopping.

"A lot of people who retire ... they go home and die. But thanks to the good Lord, I've kept going," said Hicks, who for the last 15 years has been a paid groundskeeper for Fellowship Baptist Church in Gardendale, Ala. -- even though he turned 100 years old in December.

His workday at Fellowship begins most days around 6 a.m. when he is dropped off by his daughter, Ann Atchison (he also has a son, Roy Allen Hicks of Dolomite, Ala.). His duties include raking leaves, fixing locks, cutting weeds and whatever else needs to be done on the grounds.

He receives about $50 a month for his labor, but his labor isn't about making money -- it's about refusing to sit still. "It keeps me from going crazy," said Hicks, who even sometimes walks, with the aid of a cane, the mile or so home after work, despite a bad knee and an arthritic leg.

One of 12 children born in Clanton, Ala., to a father and mother who worked in a lumber company and a cotton gin, respectively, Hicks himself started working at the age of 8 in a cotton gin for $1 a week.

Because he couldn't reach his machine, Hicks stood on a box and had to be hidden whenever the child-labor authorities came.

Later, as a 19-year-old working in Pratt City, Hicks received news that he'd been drafted for service in World War I, which resulted in his being shipped to France.

Hicks was assigned to the occupation Army that kept order in the days and months after the shooting stopped. For his time there, Hicks has been honored -- the only Alabamian to date -- by the French government with its highest national award, the Legion of Honor. It's France's way of saying thanks to the doughboys who helped bring an end to World War I.

But don't tell this war veteran and living monument to longevity that he should now sit back, relax and enjoy his accomplishments.

"If I sit down, I'll die," said Hicks, whose wife of 49 years, Ione, died in 1974.

And although he has turned 100, the modern-day Methuselah still feels he has some living to do before God calls him home.

After all, "some people live to be 130 nowadays," Hicks said.

Here's some time-honored wisdom about growing older:

1. There's a future - in this life and in the next - for older people. The founder of the Hebrew nation, Abraham, did not come on to the world scene until he was 75 years old. Moses was 80 when he led the Israelites out of Egypt. Asked which one of his works he would select as his masterpiece, architect Frank Lloyd Wright, at the age of 83, replied, "My next one". In a television interview, an 87-year-old woman was asked, 'What were things like in your day? Smiling, the lady said firmly: 'This is my day.' 'Don't worry about becoming old,' says Anne Ortlund, a pastor's wife, who at 75 hosts a radio show aired over Moody Broadcasting. 'You'll become saggy and wrinkled, but God becomes more wonderful to you.' A magazine, Australian Cultural History (No. 14, 1995) devoted an issue to ageing. On the cover is a picture of an old man attached by a harness to a younger man. The old man is goggled and grinning, and his arms are stretched out like a bird. There are clouds below him. 'We would like to thank,' reads the caption, 'Mr Reg Hitch for supplying a photograph of his first experience of parachuting at the age of 83!'

2. There's a ministry just for you! Years ago, an annoyed senior citizen from Richmond Heights, Missouri, hung up on President Reagan, who was trying to call him. This happened not just once, but half a dozen times! He didn't believe the operator when she insisted that the White House was calling. He was so sure it was a prank that he didn't stay on the line. But the Southwestern Bell operator and a neighbor finally convinced him it was for real. As a result, the man had the privilege of chatting with President Reagan for about 15 minutes. God is calling you!

3. Keep a schedule - even in retirement. It should be regular, but not rigid. Have a regular time of devotion - and a regular place to pray (it's called an 'oratory'). For many older people, the ministry of intercession is a valued one. And listen to your body: perhaps you should take a nap during the early afternoons. Exercise regularly (walking and swimming are best!).

4. Intimate friendships are still important. How can we get along with those we live with? Oscar Wilde believed that 'other people are quite dreadful; the only possible society is oneself.' Wrong, Oscar, and sad. (There is more wisdom in something else he said: 'In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.') One older person said 'Growing older is a breeze. I don't have to do nuthin'. It just happens. Sure there are negative aspects, like the aches and pains, but that even helps my social life. We all hurt all over, so the subject matter is endless.'

5. Set some new goals. Geriatric psychiatrist Charles Wells M.D., when approaching 60, wrote himself a series of short letters about how to act and to deal with the inevitable changes of advancing age. The book is called Dear Old Man: Letters to Myself on Growing Old. It's a good book. Aging, he wrote, has its rewards as well as its difficulties, and that, faced squarely, it can offer us new opportunity for growth and spiritual development. The one object, the one good thing left for old age, he writes, is to mellow those aspects of behavior one has neglected, to bring to fruition the values of a good life. 'We can and must learn to be more temperate, more courteous, more forgiving. So take advantage of your age. Tell yourself that you really have no reason to do all those things that have grown unimportant to you. Take time to enjoy the new freedom of old age.'

6. Think about death and dying (but don't get preoccupied with it!). One church ran a series of workshops: 'Having My Say for the End of My Stay'. The dialogue began with an exploration of how best to begin preparation and planning for the medical and physical realities of the 'death event' we will each inevitably experience. Death is, after all, an event without which life is not 'whole' or complete. Avoiding preparation and planning is either to pretend that death will not come to us or to declare that we prefer to dump on someone else the task of dealing with all the complexities and decisions about our mortal remains after our demise. It is highly desirable early on to develop a personal philosophy and internalized view of life which encompasses and embraces death not as an enemy, resented and feared, but as a natural part of the ebb and flow of our multi-dimensional existence. To delay this spiritual, emotional, mental and financial preparation until some life-threatening condition has been diagnosed and confirmed is far too late to begin the planning process for a smooth transition from this earthly realm. Becoming, as early as possible, a knowledgeable and responsible partner with your medical advisors in your condition and care is essential.

7. Decide to be happy. An older man said 'I even look better as I get older. I look good in anything I wear, cause I can't see too well. I don't worry about high fashion either. I buy what I like loose and baggy. I even simplified my will. I just took a piece of paper and wrote on it "Being of sound mind, I spent it all." I don't have to make big decisions any more. I just concern myself with what color tennis shoes to wear to the wedding or whether McDonald's will sell me a "happy meal." I don't even have to wonder if my teeth are clean. I just take them out and look at them. I seem to have more fun as I get older. I can go to sleep in Church and people think I'm praying. I can hug a young lady and people will think I'm being grandfatherly. I have learned to laugh at myself and to appreciate the child within. That's where my dreams and imagination originate. Growing old has nothing to do with the number of years you have lived. I am only as old as my despair and as young as my faith. Some one said to me, "Don't ever grow up." My response, "Hey, I'm too old to grow up."'

8. Keep learning. When President Roosevelt paid a call on Justice Holmes to congratulate him on his 92nd birthday, he was surprised to find him reading Plato. He was, he said, 'trying to improve my mind.' Don't be 'stuck where you were' spiritually. Jesus taught a parable about new wine needing to be put into fresh wineskins (Luke 5:38). One example: The forms of our Christian practice must change. In this parable of the garment and the wineskin, the garment and the wineskin are the external dress and the container, not the substance of our faith. They represent the religious customs, practices and traditions in which the substance of our faith is packaged. Jesus is stating a fact-the garment needs mending and the old wineskin is old! What worked before may not be appropriate any more. Times change, and cultures change. But what doesn't change is the object of our faith.

The reasoning behind resistance to change is obvious: 'I came to Christ singing that song,' or 'It worked for me. I don't see why it won't work for my children. We have to ask, 'Is it relevant today?' Older people have served the church well: they supported the church financially, and did all the work over the years to get us where we are. But there comes a time when we 'hand over the reins' to (younger) others, and have to let them make their mistakes - as we did!

I am often asked: Why is it that a good, Bible-believing church which faithfully carries out its ministry struggles to hold onto its young people, when down the street a contemporary ministry rents a school building and has four times more young people in a matter of months? Maybe the contemporary ministry relates to the young and their style of music. There's nothing wrong with that, in principle. If we fail to provide new wineskins, we will be ill-equipped to serve the 'new wine' - the next generation of believers. A good prayer: 'Lord, help me never to cling to the old ways just because they make me feel comfortable.'

# A woman married to an archeologist was asked how it was working out. 'Oh it's good,' she said, 'the older I get the more interested he is in me!'

HOW TO KNOW YOU'RE GROWING OLDER

-Everything hurts and what doesn't hurt, doesn't work.

-The gleam in your eyes is from the sun hitting your bifocals.

-You feel like the morning after, and you haven't been anywhere.

-Your address book contains many names ending in M.D.

-You get winded playing chess.

-Your children begin to look middle aged.

-You finally reach the top of the ladder, and find it leaning against the wrong wall.

-You join a health club and don't go.

-You decide to procrastinate but then never get around to it.

-Your mind makes contracts your body can't meet.

-A dripping tap causes an uncontrollable bladder urge.

-You look forward to a dull evening.

-You walk with your head held high trying to get used to your bifocals.

-Your favorite part of the newspaper is '25 Years Ago Today.'

-You turn out the light for economic rather than romantic reasons.

-You sit in a rocking chair and can't make it go.

-Your knees buckle and your belt won't.

-You stop looking forward to your next birthday.

-Dialing long distance wears you out.

-You're startled the first time you are addressed as 'Old Timer'.

-You remember today that yesterday was your wedding anniversary.

-You just can't stand people who are intolerant.

-You burn the midnight oil after 9 p.m.

-Your back goes out more than you do.

-The little grey haired lady you helped across the street is your wife.

-You get exercise acting as a pallbearer for your friends who exercise.

-You have too much room in the house and not enough in the medicine cabinet.

-You sink your teeth into a steak and they stay there.

-When you go to get your hair cut...in your ears.

# A sprightly old lady loved making this speech: 'Remember us old folks are worth a fortune with silver in our hair, gold in our teeth, stones in our kidneys, lead in our feet and gas in our stomachs. I have become a little older since I saw you last, and a few changes have come into my life. Frankly, I have become a frivolous old girl. I am seeing five gentlemen every day. As soon as I wake up, Will Power helps me out of bed. Then I go to see John. Next, it's time for Uncle Toby to come along, following by Billy T. They leave and Arthur Ritis shows up and stays for the rest of the day. He doesn't like to stay in one place very long, so he takes me from joint to joint. What a life! Oh Yes, I'm also flirting with Al Zheimer. PS: The pastor came the other day. He said at my age I should be thinking about the hereafter. I told him. 'Oh, I do, all the time. No matter where I am; if I'm in the lounge room, upstairs, in the kitchen or down in the basement, I ask myself. What am I here after?'

# Rabbi Abraham Twersky tells a story about his great-grandfather who was sitting with other rabbinical scholars studying the Talmud when it was decided to take a break for refreshments. One of the group offered to pay for the refreshments, but there was no one who volunteered to go for them. According to Twersky, in his book Generation to Generation, his great grandfather said, 'Just hand me the money, I have a young boy who will be glad to go.' After a rather extended period, he finally returned with the food, and it became obvious to all that the rabbi himself had gone on the errand. Noticing their discomfort, the rabbi explained: 'I didn't mislead you. You see, many outgrow their youth and become old men. I have never let the spirit of my youth depart. And as I grew older, I always took along with me that young boy I had been. It was that young boy who did the errand.'

DISCUSS:

1. Look up Ephesians 4: 22-24. What does Paul mean about putting off the old self and putting on a new self?

2. Share some experiences about the ministries available to older people - in the church and in the wider community.

3. Some people keep growing all their lives; some don't. What's the secret here?

4. Exchange some ideas about keeping a daily/weekly schedule.

5. Talk about friends: their value, and things you do with them.

6. Share with each other your short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals.

7. How do you each feel about death and dying? What will it be like, do you think? How can we best prepare for death - and dying?

8. Why is change so hard for many older persons? How can we help one another - and the next generations here?

Rowland Croucher