Surprising Problem With Birthdays
Then you reach a tipping point and they become, “Already?” And then … well, let’s just say it doesn’t get better. We can see that this is not heading in a good direction.
Anyway, you know the worst thing about birthdays? Your friends start to look so old that you actually feel sorry for them. (That’s your male friends. You ladies are exceptions to the rule.)
There they are, passing from gray hair to white hair and sometimes no hair. Wrinkles mark those marvelous faces and they start to look tired, even when they’re fresh, which is about one hour each day.
My friends ache in places that they didn’t even know they had places. And you know what? Gravity gets stronger as they get older, because everything about my friends seems to be sinking.
They droop, my friends do.
I’ll admit that some people actually get better looking as they grow older, but most of those people were really ugly to begin with.
Problem Solution
Anyway, I think I found a solution to this old-age problem: magic food that you can eat and see your youth renewed! Maybe “magic” isn’t the word. Supernatural is more like it. Listen.
“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits … Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” (Psalms 103:2, 5 NKJV)
Whoa! I want some of this food that renews my youth so that I can soar like a powerful eagle. Now, before we go further, I know some of you read a more recent translation and it doesn’t say, “mouth.” “Mouth” here is actually the translation of a Hebrew word that is rather obscure. It’s also rendered “ornament” as well as “mouth” in different places in the Old Testament.
In situations like this translators try to use the interpretation of the word that sits best in the context. Personally, I think “mouth” is a beautiful metaphor.
Isn’t it great to have so many Bible translations? That way you can choose whatever pleases you best, huh?
So what can I put in my “mouth” to make me feel younger? Oatmeal cookies? That’s a definite possibility, but it’s not very spiritual and I suspect it contributes to the droop of my waistline.
Here is one of my main candidates for youth food.
Soul Food
Put praise in your mouth!
Whoa! Stop, stop! You’re doing it again. Your mouth was saying, “Amen,” and your brain was somewhere else. This sounds like religious jargon that we’ve heard a hundred times if we go to church regularly.
Think about it! I believe that real praise in your mouth renews your strength. “Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!” (Ps. 147:1. NIV)
Praise in our mouth is a good thing that satisfies us and makes us powerful against our most potent spiritual enemies. “Let the saints be joyful in the glory and beauty [which God confers upon them]; let them sing for joy upon their beds.
“Let the high praises of God be in their throats and a two-edged sword in their hands,
“To wreak vengeance upon the nations and chastisement upon the peoples,
“To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron,
“To execute upon them the judgment written. He [the Lord] is the honor of all His saints. Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)” (Ps. 149:5-9, Amplified)
Dangerous Daddy
Old pappy is dangerous when his mouth is full of praise and thanksgiving. He seems young and vigorous.
You know, I realize something. My friends are probably never going to look twenty again. They can paint everything, pump up everything in the gym, get their face lifted, all that. I guess it’s okay but the outside is going to do what the outside is going to do.
Have you seen any recent pictures of ladies who were beautiful starlets fifty years ago? Yeah, it’s not pretty.
There’s a lot of good news though. If you mind and heart are full of faith in the Lord Jesus and you let that get into your mouth with praise and words of confidence in Him, your insides get younger and younger!
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” (2 Cor. 4:16, NIV)
Maybe there is hope for my friends after all.
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Hmmm …
Don’t irritate an old person. They don’t like being old in the first place so it doesn’t take a lot to make them mad. Anon
Photos: Flickr, Creative Commons, Dietmar Temps old man grumbling … Alessandro Valli Yummy