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Latest Activity: Jan 13
Solomon's Description of Old Age
One of the most beautiful descriptions of old age ever written is Solomon's poetry in Ecclesiates 12.
Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived, a son of David, and ruled Israel when it was at the peak of power. Solomon was the king that God selected to build His temple.
Here are his words:
Ecc. 12:1-7
"Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;
Ecc 12:2 While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:
Ecc 12:3 In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened,
Ecc 12:4 And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low;
Ecc 12:5 Also [when] they shall be afraid of [that which is] high, and fears [shall be] in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets:
Ecc 12:6 Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.
Ecc 12:7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
Solomon describes all the stages of old age. You lose your hearing, your eyesight,your teeth and your confidence.
I visited a nursing home recently with a friend and as we were walking down the hall we passed several pitiful older people just sitting in their wheelchairs.
"That's what will happen to us if we live long enough,' she told me.
We could get depressed, not only for ourselves but for our aging parents.
Or we could work now to do everything we can to help the elderly and make their world a better place to spend their last days.
I think not only will we be blessed now but our efforts will pay off as younger people see our examples. Who knows- maybe someone will perform acts of kindess for us when we become the person Solomon has so eloqently described.
Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived, a son of David, and ruled Israel when it was at the peak of power. Solomon was the king that God selected to build His temple.
Here are his words:
Ecc. 12:1-7
"Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;
Ecc 12:2 While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:
Ecc 12:3 In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened,
Ecc 12:4 And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low;
Ecc 12:5 Also [when] they shall be afraid of [that which is] high, and fears [shall be] in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets:
Ecc 12:6 Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.
Ecc 12:7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
Solomon describes all the stages of old age. You lose your hearing, your eyesight,your teeth and your confidence.
I visited a nursing home recently with a friend and as we were walking down the hall we passed several pitiful older people just sitting in their wheelchairs.
"That's what will happen to us if we live long enough,' she told me.
We could get depressed, not only for ourselves but for our aging parents.
Or we could work now to do everything we can to help the elderly and make their world a better place to spend their last days.
I think not only will we be blessed now but our efforts will pay off as younger people see our examples. Who knows- maybe someone will perform acts of kindess for us when we become the person Solomon has so eloqently described.
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Comment by Alice Stevens on January 13, 2009 at 5:17pm -
I came across this post from Boomerlife and it really touched me.
Boomerlife Post
The Boomerlife poster is describing a bad fall her Dad took and the episode of having to take him to the hospital.
By now I'm beginning to learn what those 2 AM emergency calls the poster was referring to are all about.
Not panicking is also important when your parents or elderly loved ones fall.
When my aunt suffered a serious fall back in November, I had to keep my head. You have help on the way because the paramedics will be there soon after you put in the 911 call in most cases.
The wonderful young men who came to our aid did so even though they had to block the street in front of my aunt's house during rush hour, which is very busy and on an extremely steep hill.
Traffic was blocked in both directions for a long time because a giant fire truck was parked on the incline. As fate would have it, a member of my congregation was stuck in that traffic.
More aid was on the way because he called the church and got us the spiritual comfort we needed as two of our elders dropped everything and came to the hospital to be with my uncle.
You also end up doing what you have to do as the Boomerlife poster points out. You grab whatever you can to bind up bleeding, and you're cleaning up blood on the walkway and you're looking at wounds you've never seen before but you get it done.
What strikes me as almost miraculous is that you're able to do those things you didn't think you ever had the stomach for before.
That's because you're needed. It's your time to serve.
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