Move While Settling!
Wes Wick
Disheartening Downsizing Denial
There’s a whole lot of denial associated with getting older.
My wife Judy and I were flabbergasted in our early fifties when offered a senior discount for the first time---totally uncalled for! Savings we’d later grow to appreciate and ask for---but in the moment we weren’t quite ready.
When the check-in nurse measured my height recently, she matter-of-factly confirmed my stature at six-foot-two. “Excuse me, that’s six foot three and a half,” I asserted.
She rechecked and confirmed her earlier prognosis. “Sir, your vertebrae are compressing.” 6-2 and I was blue . . . devastating news!
And I'm still in denial! I have an unsettled feeling about gravity subtracting from my physical height over time.
Okay, we’ve all seen cereal boxes with the standard disclaimer, “Some settling of the contents may have occurred during shipment.”
Let's flip that around . . . Some movement MUST occur during settling!
1. Don’t settle for a weak prayer life.
2. Don’t settle for weak or missing relationships.
3. Don’t settle for a life that omits making disciples.
We see many Christian adults settling for less spiritually in their later years. Common enemies include laziness, timidity, weakness, and impatience.
Some argue that adults in retirement are now entitled to settle for less important aspirations. While our physical stature may lose an inch or two, God calls us to keep growing and moving in our spiritual aspirations. And what could be more invigorating than following His desires for us!
We’re drawn back often to a stellar verse, 1 Thessalonians 5:14 (NLT):
Brothers and sisters, we urge you to warn those who are lazy. Encourage those who are timid. Take tender care of those who are weak. Be patient with everyone.
It takes determination on our part to counteract spiritual settling. Let’s rely on God's power to help us fight that temptation---in our own lives and in the lives of others.
Yes, more settling of our contents may occur, but let’s not settle for less than God’s best. He wants to breathe new life into our dry, settling bones!