A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford
Recently I invited my seven children and their spouses for supper. “Bring big empty boxes and newspapers. I want you to take home everything you want of my stuff from the house. I’m not going to be needing any of it very much longer.”
They came, and we had a sweet time of fellowship. But they all left without taking anything. “Mother,” they protested, “it’s too soon.” Too soon? When I tell you I was born the week Charles Lindbergh flew alone across the Atlantic Ocean, you’ll know I’ve already lived far past the ordinary “three-score years and ten.”
In Ecclesiastes 12:1, King Solomon advises young people,
“Remember your Creator in the days of your youth,
before the days of trouble come and the years approach
when you will say, ‘I find no pleasure in them.’ ”
It’s true, “Days of trouble” do come in old age. Eyesight dims. Deafness lurks. Feet stumble. Words escape the mind. That’s why our Creator tells us to remember Him while we’re young.
But youth has its own challenges and hazards, too. You will make decisions when you’re young that will affect your eternal destiny. Will you serve God or serve yourself? Will you choose to be faithful to your sspouse and children? Will you work hard to learn the skills you can use for a lifetime? Will you live a life of integrity or deceit? These are all decisions you need to purposely make while you are young.
King Solomon ends his wise advice in chapter 12 of Ecclesiastes with:
Fear God and keep His commandments,
for this is the duty of all mankind.
For God will bring every deed into judgment,
including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil. Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
Thank God, you do not have to make this perilous journey alone. The Lord Jesus offers you forgiveness and protection against temptation if only you will accept it. And when you receive His gift of eternal life, your journey will still difficult, but you will have God’s wisdom, God’s strength, God’s love, God’s presence, to make it exciting and rewarding.
And that brings me back to the tough challenges I face in my old age. I attest that every difficult thing King Solomon says about old age in Ecclesiastes 12 is absoluely true. But that’s not the whole truth. Old age can be the time when you discover the blessed reality of the intimate presence of the dear Lord Jesus every moment of every day.
The path of the just is as the shining light,
that shines more and more unto the perfect day. Proverbs 4:18
And it’s blessedly true, as Carroll C. Clark wrote in a song, “I am nearer home today than I’ve ever been before.”