Many Years

Lucy is old.  Like maybe 13 or 17.  She's so old no one even knows any more.  It's like she's always existed.

Lucy stayed with me for about 5 months a few years ago.  Lucy has lived in Ohio, Florida, Grand Cayman, back to Ohio, and now in Pennsylvania.  World traveller.

Everywhere Lucy has been, she approaches it with stoicism, with occasional trips to hide under the bed and not come back out.

Lucy is still loved, even as she begins to lose her teeth and experience deterioration of her liver. 

It's good to know that the Lord loves us even when we are old, smelly and have slowed.  There's a woman in my local Bible study who said last week, "I'm almost 99 years old and every day there is something new to learn."  This inspired me.  How many of us feel that way at our current age.

Recently I read that younger people have lost their sense of wonder at the world.  As I walked my dogs yesterday and looked at the amazing cloud formations, I couldn't imagine not approaching every day with a sense of wonder and being enlivened enough to learn something new.

Old age, or even any age, is no excuse to rest on our laurels and cruise through life.  There is always something new to learn, whether it is about ourselves, others, or our great and loving God.