Good morning, world. Things are looking pretty good from the front porch of my farm in Virginia today. It’s cloudy, and they’re calling for rain later today, but it’s still perfect in my eyes. As I sat listening for the Call of My Shepherd, He entertained me with many things. A lone turkey crossing the field. A woodpecker feeding off a stump. A deer that had wandered away from the herd and one little Canadian goose flying solo. Each one looked healthy and strong but then again I can’t see the inside of them and they can’t speak to me. I’m pretty sure every living thing has aches and pains every once in a while but nature doesn’t stop to lick its wounds when it does – it keeps moving forward in survival mode instead. It’s not really about whether we have aches and pains or not that matters…everybody does at some point in life…it’s what we do despite the aches and pains that matters in the Journey of Life. Isn’t that the way you see your Journey of Faith too?

The Bible says “Gray hair is a crown of glory” but most of the world doesn’t look at it that way. At the first sign of gray hair, they’re off to get it covered as if they will somehow look and feel younger if they do. At the first sign of wrinkled skin, they’re off to buy expensive miracle creams or to hire a plastic surgeon to make the wrinkles go away as if they will somehow look and feel younger if they do. At the first sign of an unexplainable ache or pain, they’re off to search for answers as if aches and pains only exist if something dreadful is going on. What is it about mankind that it wants to live a long life BUT it doesn’t want to see or feel the years? When David cried out to the Lord – “Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come” – he was a lot more interested in having time to declare the Power of God to the world than he was about the years. Declaring the power of God to the next generation is the greatest Joy…through the gray hair, wrinkles aches and pains and THIS is the Key to a long, and fulfilling life.

I have the Heart of a young woman with a body that reminds me that I’m not IF I let it. I have enough aches and pains to keep me Humble BUT nothing will cause me to slow down to lick my wounds. I don’t conjure up scary things in my mind when I’m not feeling well and I don’t expect to take medications that I can’t even pronounce. Long years are a BLESSING and I’m going to Live like it, Love like it, and continue to run my race until I draw my last breath. Why? Because there is no greater Joy than to share the Power of my God with the next generation and beyond!

How about you?