Original Entry:
January 16, 2012
McMinnville, OR
All
our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a
moan. 10 Our days may come to
seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but
trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and
we fly away. Psalm
90: 9-10
Country singer Toby Keith
sings, “I ain’t as good as I once was, but I’m as good once as I ever
was.” I have pondered the truth of that
song numerous times, but one thing I know is I am definitely not as good as I
once was!
As my sons grow as
teens our wrestling matches are getting physical. Usually ending with my weight and strength
overpowering them but the longer we wrestle the more winded I become.
I am not as good as I
once was!
My dad once said that
a man is at his strongest at age forty. Maybe, but for me it means a slower
metabolism and fighting harder to lose less weight. It means an aspirin a day
and high blood pressure medicine. It means shaving my bald head weekly. It
means stretching out an old hamstring pull.
What does it mean for
you?
The question for men
half way through life or beyond is, how will I finish the last half of life
better than the first? The key ingredient to age is wisdom and experience.
A man finishes better
than he starts. He does not end with a
whimper. He does not end waving the
white flag of surrender. He finishes with
a shout of victory. He scratches, claws, and fights through life until he is
wore out from the fight and in his final breath he, “finishes his years with a mourn.” (9)
