Old and Gray Time

   As much as I like to visit my family in far off places, it is good to be back home again. No matter how much joy I have when being with kin, there is just something about being back in a routine, and in a place where you know where all your stuff is. Sleeping in your own bed is great.

   So, when I noticed the title of the Psalm that I was to read for today, I knew it was for me. Psalm 71 was entitled in the New American Standard like this:

Prayer of an Old Man for Deliverance.

   And the verse that caught my eye was this:

"And even when I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me,
Until I declare Your strength to this generation,"

   The more I travel, and the longer the trip, and the number of days on the road, especially when they pass one, the more I feel my age.

   On our way to Arkansas last week, our first travel day was from home to Mississippi, and I spent time, as I drove, to think about and watch for things that would make a good photo opportunity, knowing that I would be back that way in a few days. Even the second day going west I saw some neat things, but we were almost to Conway, and they would still be available on the way home in a few days.

   Then, the visit was over, and it was time to return to the east and home. The closer we got to home the more I would make the comment that "that spot we just passed would make a good picture" as we continued on our way, not even slowing down.

   We did make a couple of stops, but, by and large it was just "let's get home".

   So, when I realize what my life is looking like, and where I am on that continuum, I know that that psalmist's prayer is for me too.

   But I notice also that this one who penned the Psalm was not selfish in his request, there was a purpose to his asking. There was a purpose to his life. He wanted to declare God's strength. From the footnotes to the verses, the word used as strength is literally "arm". So the psalmist wanted to tell what God had done and would do, not only in his life, but in the lives of the others that were in that generation, the ones living in his time.

   And, as I quoted this verse in this blog, that same psalm writer continues even far past his lifetime.

   I would that my life, even the old and gray part, would have such purpose.

   PS. I did stop a couple of times. Here is the 1904 Library, still in use, in Eufaula, AL. Everyone has to take a bathroom break sometime.