91Èȱ¬

Good morning.

A close family relative turned 60 a few days ago, and I’m still struggling to comprehend that he’s reached such a significant milestone. I must admit, he doesn’t look 60 - or doesn’t look the way a 60-year-old is meant to. He has all his own hair - or so he claims - and has a physique that most men half his age would envy. Equally, and I don’t mean this in the wrong way, but he doesn’t act like a man of that age.

I suppose some may say that 60 is the new forty! Others would probably roll out that old cliche about ‘age being nothing but a number!’ The truth of the matter is, that nobody grows younger – we get older. So aging is part of life, whether we like it or not. Moreover it's still not possible to turn back, or halt the hands of time, although science and cosmetic surgery are doing their best to address this.

What’s interesting about aging is the fact that we often look at the external aspects of this process - whether a person ‘looks good for their age’ or is ‘wearing well for their years’. However, we rarely consider what wisdom or insight that person may have acquired on reaching a particular milestone. I think it would be worrying if a person of 60, not only looked like a 20-year-old, but also thought like one.

Down the centuries many religious figures and philosophers have spoken about the wisdom that comes with age, and how grey hair, if you still have any at an advanced age, should be your crowning glory, typifying sagacity of a life well lived.

So I pray that we may all value the wisdom that comes with maturity, and treasure those virtues that do not diminish with age.

Amen.