The police arrested a man selling "Secret Formula" tablets he claimed gave eternal youth. On going through his files, they noticed that the same man had been charged with the same criminal medical fraud four previous times: in 1794, 1856, 1928, and 1983.
From the moment of our birth until the day we leave this earth we are changing, growing, declining, learning and interacting with time. "There is nothing permanent except change." Heraclitus.
As children we compared growth, measuring our height frequently with marks on the wall. We compared biceps - the boys did, anyway. I remember one day my brother had been pitching bales, before they weighed a ton, and he developed an extra bulge on the muscles of his forearm.
It appears that we develop physically up to a point where we start to notice that our bodies are letting us down. I'm not sure when this happens in our lives, but there is a hill involved.
The human body is in constant change the minute we're born. It's in a constant state of decay. We're all like Ford Escorts, just falling apart. (Internet source)
Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.
(Henry Ford).
At the age of 80, Michelangelo said, "I am still learning." Our physical maturity declines on this side of the hill, where I am now, but spiritualy we are still learning. That is the experience of my life.
As adults we sit and compare muscles of the soul. Recently I sat at coffee with several friends sharing experiences of encounters with God. This is inspiring and sustains us in our daily struggles.
Perhaps because the soul is within us we have the sense of never growing old. It's true. Inside, we never grow old. We may look in the mirror one day and say, "Who is that old guy looking at me. Where did the wrinkles come from?"
What a wonderful plan God has where we continue to grow and mature as time passes. It is never too late to be what you might have been. George Eliot.
One day John Quincy Adams was asked how he was. He replied, "Very well, thank you. But the house I live in is sadly delapitated. It is tottering on its foundations. The walls are badly shattered, the roof is worn, the building trembles with every wind and I think I will have to move out of it before long. But I am very well, thank you."
A boy asked, "Grandfather, can you see God?" Grandfather replied, "Billy, it's getting so lately that I don't see anything else."
May you "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen" (2 Peter 3:18).
