When the “Golden Years” Don’t Feel So Golden-But God Is Still Good

The other day I bent forward in the shower to wrap my wet hair in a towel. That caused me to lose my balance. I half fell out of the bath, did a wild dance trying to regain some balance, and smashed my head against the towel rack. The wet footsteps on the bathmat were hilarious. They looked like some wild animal had been let loose. After that (still a bit woozy) I put my underwear on inside out. And left them that way for the rest of the day.

Ah, the Golden Years. Growing older is not for the faint of heart.

Later in the week, I went into the donut shop in our small town and met up with the 90-year-old man who hangs out there. We talked about his health and then he said, “These are not the golden years. When I was 19, had a job, my first car and no responsibilities, now THOSE were the Golden Years!”

I could not argue with that logic.

Many years ago, I dealt with a lot of senior citizens at my job and I wondered why they were always crabby. Being young myself, I judged them pretty harshly. I had not walked a mile in their shoes and it showed in my attitude. I could easily fake being cheerful and I wondered why they couldn’t do the same.

Now, I am walking in their shoes and the view from here is different.

The list of conditions I now suffer from is a bit overwhelming and my kitchen cabinet is full of prescription drugs and supplements. I used to make fun of my mom for all the pill bottles she had and now (since I’ve inherited a lot of her health issues) I have my own vast collection.

I also have at least ten pairs of glasses around my house and more in my car and purse. Some are for distance, some are for the computer, and there are reading glasses in every corner. Cataract surgery made it impossible for me to see anything up close without help.

After disease and a harsh treatment, I have no usable hearing in my left ear. I am certainly blessed that I have some hearing in my right ear. Still, my life is much harder now than it used to be. I use closed captioning on my television and I can’t go see movies anymore. I have to point my right ear towards whoever is speaking and perform a combination of lip reading and filling in what I think might have been said.

My joints also hurt, especially my hands and knees. It’s so hard to get up from a low chair or the ground when you know there’s going to be a lot of pain involved.

So I see now why so many older people could be labeled as “crabby”. The diseases of the elderly are constant and difficult. I get how it becomes easy to be bitter and angry.

When the signs of aging first hit me, I used to think, “Hey, I’m God’s child, He loves me, so what the heck is happening?!” Shouldn’t I be spared these things?

And then I remembered.

Isaac (Genesis 27:1) and Jacob (Genesis 48:10) were not spared from failing vision. Whether from cataracts, glaucoma or macular degeneration, their eyesight grew dim with age.

King David was not spared from poor circulation in his old age and he was unable to get warm (1 Kings 1:1).

King Asa was not spared. He was “sick in his legs” (1 Kings 15:23) and the pain was not taken from him.

Jacob had a hip socket dislocation after wrestling an angel, and it caused a permanent limp (Genesis 32:25).

These are just a few people whose maladies were mentioned in the Bible. They weren’t healed from these things. They weren’t spared pain and hardship in their old age. They suffered in the same ways aged people do today.

So, should I walk around with a scowl on my face? Did they?

Here’s the difference in one word: GOD.

That just says it all, doesn’t it? He didn’t promise that He would make the path before us smooth and easy. He didn’t say that he would heal all our ills. But, He did say He would be with us in the suffering.

I have had some of the most amazing moments with Him while I was taken down with illness. I have felt Him close to me in the times when my body was letting me down. Aging has shown me how broken and helpless I am. I cannot rely on my own strength anymore I must rely on God. And that is a beautiful thing.

These may not be the golden years, but there is something very special about them.

And that is reason enough to smile.

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.“ 2 Corinthians 4:16