“All my life I was taught how to die as a Christian… but no one ever taught me how I ought to live in the years before I die.” – The late Billy Graham in his book Nearing Home. >>>>>>>>>>>

I know what he meant. My grandparents failed to warn me about what I’d face… so I never “planned” to get old.

A few years ago, stairs didn’t hurt my knees, and my lungs didn’t burn after a game of tag with the grandkids.

A few years ago, my ambition plowed through caution like a bulldozer.

But now, at 66, my eyes require lenses, and my hands shake after cutting up logs with a chainsaw. Now the rainy headlight-glare on pavement at night challenges my senses.

I never planned to get old — and years gallop past, no matter how hard I haul on the reins.

A Bible verse applies to me in this season of 60s: “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise…” (Ephesians 5:15).

And I get it:

I must live life in bite-sized chunks now — “circumspectly” (mindful of consequences).

I often miss the mark, but I’m trying to

• Listen longer and interrupt less with my opinions.
• Measure the impact of my words before speaking.
• Carry on an open-ended conversation with God all day.
• Illuminate the dark places of my mind with God’s Word.
• Refuse to accept the condemnation of my past mistakes.
• Remember that the least loveable people in my life are souls loved by God.

I can still climb a mountain (but slower than before), and I know that God isn’t perplexed at all about my fading “youth.”

Many Godly men have said it, and I’ve committed it to memory too: The force of personal success for a Christian is measured in loving, forgiving, and mentoring others — especially at the end.

KEEP GOING.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

II Cor. 4:16