East of Eden, after the fall of man, all of us age, both in numbers and by life experiences.
Despite our physically, mental, and emotional aging, Isaiah the Old Testament prophet offers hope:
“Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.”
Isaiah 64:4
This year, I turned thirty years old, numerically aging into a new decade; furthermore, a recent emergency room experience aged me through a stressful challenge. On a random Monday night, my husband of almost six years, complained of a sharp pain on the right side of his stomach. So, in true experienced parent fashion, (God blessed us with three children aged five, two and almost one years old so we understand sudden hospital visits- always eat/ shower before), we tucked our littles into bed, took showers, and packed a bag with books, and a charger; as well as brought a body pillow. Prepared for a long night, while my mother rested at our home with our babies, we ventured to the emergency room for the strangest spontaneous date-night of our lives. Thirty minutes after arrival, a truly miraculously short wait time, a CT scan diagnosed my husband with appendicitis. So for two nights my husband braved appendectomy surgery, and aftercare antibiotic treatment for infection, while I traveled back and forth to care for him and our children. Despite the long road of recovery (at least a month of no lifting littles), which requires more loads to love for me, God sustains me as I live out my vocation as a wife and mother. I pledged in sickness and in health; thus God strengthens all weaknesses in this sacred covenant. Supported internally by a hope-filled faith trusting in God’s love for me, and my family, and externally by friends and family who lighten any load with helping with the kids and food, this unexpected challenge feels undaunting. We weathered storms of death, birth and extended family strife and thus have aged like fine wine, rich and soothingly sipped.
So, my dear readers, may you age not gracefully, but full of grace, sustained by His abundant strength, unphased by the rising in age both numerically and whatever life struggle ages you.
As Isaiah addresses life’s weariness:
“Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
Isaiah 40:30-31
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