Now that I’m 64 | On Faith
Published 9:00 am Friday, April 22, 2016
“When I get older losing my hair, many years from now …” I first heard the lyrics to that Beatles song “When I’m Sixty-Four,” when I was 15.
As I sang the words, I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be that age. For a freshman in high school, it seemed like light years away.
Well, this week I turned 64. Curiously, I have lost most of my hair. And for the record, what’s left of my hair has lost its curl and original color.
As I reflect on what it’s like to be on the threshold of retirement age, I realize that other lyrics of the “Fab Four” provide me a meaningful perspective.
Take the words to “Yesterday.” At this age, I am tempted to put too much stock in yesterday. While life was simpler back then, the older I get, the more I tend to romanticize the past.
As someone once said, “What makes the good old days the good old days is a bad memory.” There is nothing quite as wonderful as today. Even when it appears that troubles are here to stay, my three-score-and-four years has taught me “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”
While I long for yesterday on occasion, I’m grateful to God for the gift of today. In terms of tenses, there is a reason why we call it “the present.”
Now that I am 64, I also find myself meditating on the refrain of McCartney’s masterpiece “Let it Be.” While Paul was thinking of his mother (Mary) who died when he was only 14, I’m inclined to think of the Virgin Mother.
Remember how Mary responded to the angelic messenger who informed her she had been chosen for the overwhelming task of birthing and raising the Son of God? She humbly acquiesced and replied “Let it be to me as you have said!”
When I find myself in times of trouble (and who doesn’t as they enter the autumn of life), I find great comfort in voicing Mother Mary’s words. “Let it be!”
I tend to believe that verse in the Bible I learned as a boy that says, “All things work together for good to those who love God …” Accepting what God allows in my life and not fighting it is the first step in trusting Him for how things will all work out for good. And so I am increasingly learning how to pray, “Let it be, Lord! Let it be!”
Contact pastor Greg Asimakoupoulos at AwesomeRev@aol.com.
