I'm probably not in the best position, age, or even condition to write about this, but you don't have to be old to write about growing old anyway. Its just something thats been stuck in my mind for sometime, and when something is stuck in my mind, I will feel like writing it down. So to all respectable old folks out there, please don't start flaming me yet.
I've been thinking, what will happen when I grow old? I'm not talking about who'll be my grandchildren, or my children, or if I will have enough retirement funds. No. These things are a little beyond me at the moment. I'm just saying, what will happen when I grow old, when my body isn't what it is anymore. What will happen? What will happen, when my arm refuses to listen to my commands, when I can't get myself off the bed, when I can't walk to the nearby coffeeshop in the time I used to do? I don't have the answer.
I have not arrived yet. But I do know one thing. Time waits for no man. Every second we are growing old. My friend told me "once you reach 20 the years fly by and there's no turning back!" I didn't know where that came from, but it holds certain truth, no matter how evil it may sound to someone who just turned 20.
Theres no turning back. No one can turn back time. I watched one of the old Superman movies and I remember there was one part when Superman tried to turn back time. What he did was just fly around the Earth at ultra speeds and then making the Earth rotate backwards. In the movie, he did succeed in turning back time. But all of us know that even if anyone is capable of making the Earth rotate backwards, time won't turn back.
So rather than think about whats going to happen when I grow old, I would rather think about what I should do now, at this age and time. You see, I may never get a chance to grow old. The bible says no one knows the things of tomorrow except the Father. I might not even need to wait untill I am 70 or 80 before I start losing the function of an arm, a leg, or having a failed kidney, or liver. And I haven't even mentioned anything about death.
It is real. Our body is not invincible. At my age, at 20, my prime, I sometimes feel that my body is invincible. I can eat anything, do anything, try anything and my body won't fail me. My bones won't break, my heart won't fail. But that is very very wrong. I've seen cases of people who died at my age, who broke a bone, who lost functions of their body at my age. What if I can longer type, I can no longer write? We never know what will happen to us.
To me, everyday I wake up feeling fine, is due to the grace of God. Everyday is a gift, and the sunrise is proof of God's faithfulness to us. And because of this, my time of being fit and healthy must not go to waste. Everytime I get a chance to do something for God, everytime I get to do something meaningful, everytime I get to make people around me happier, I will have to do it. It is a duty.
Don't complain when we need to go and do a physical training, or when we need to study for a particular test, or when we need to go and help out at a certain event, or even just helping to clear up after an event. Do it, because you still have the chance and capability to do so.
Don't let our youth, strength and time go to waste doing meaningless things. Don't wait untill we no longer have to chance to do certain things then we regret it. If we need to apologise to somebody, do it. If we need to make it up for somebody coz of something we did, do it. If we need to share the gospel with a friend, do it. Don't wait untill we don't have the chance and then we start to regret it. Regret is futile, it does not bring about anything. Regret will not turn back time, it will not give us another chance. So let there not be any regret in our future. But let there be fulfillment, be joy and peace in our future, because we know we have done what we needed to do.
PS, you never know when you'll be down with brain tumor, stroke, cancer, heart failure, kidney failure, liver failure, or even amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a disease which disables your nervous system from the control of your muscles.
James 4:13-14 "Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this and that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes."
Proverbs 27:1 "Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth."
