As people age, they start, at some point, talking about "the Golden Years." And whenever I've heard them referred to, its alway in the future tense, as in, "I'm looking forward to retirement so I can enjoy my golden years."
Such sentiments may be fine for others, but not for me. My 'Golden Years' are now. I have my health, my family, a job I love where I feel used by God. I have a brain full of amazing memories that range from bungee jumping in Branson, Mo, to planting a cocanut palm on Rarotonga with my wife, to fishing for salmon with my father in Alaska. I've been married to the greatest and most beautiful woman I've ever had the privilege of meeting for over ten years, and I have the three brightest and most beautiful kids I've ever seen. As I've said a thousand times, other people think they have good kids, but that's only because they haven't met mine. And what have I done to deserve such a blessed run in life? Absolutely nothing. Other than following Christ to the best of my abilities, mine is an ordinary life...
In many ways I imagine myself like Job before the Lord called him to Satan's attention. I can only hope I fly under the radar better than he did. I suppose, since the Enemy is finite, and there are a few more people on earth now than there were then, that I've got a decent chance of avoiding Job's fate.
As I look to the future, I see, in all likelihood, suffering and pain. Family will pass away, sickness, injury or accident will steal my health if aging alone isn't enough. I see trips to the hospitals that I hate so much. (I could never be a pastor for that reason alone.) I see the loss of innocence in the lives of my children. I see the usual aches and pains that accompany every life, and even if they come late to mine, come they will, as they must. Nevertheless, joy is mine.
Joy is mine, not because of the experiences I've had, or the people I've known, or anything I've said or done. No, joy is mine because in my heart of hearts there is Christ, and nothing can ever remove that. Nothing can shake the foundation of my faith because that foundation is the Chief Cornerstone Himself. My joy is eternal, even if these, my golden years, are not.
Do I boast? Certainly not! I have done nothing to merit the favor of God or man. At least not of my own accord. As it is written, there is nothing good in me, nothing worthy of God's affection, that He Himself did not put there by His own providence. I am not worthy on my own, only blessed, and that for reasons only God can fathom. Why He chose me is a mystery that only He can answer, but I rejoice that He did, and THAT is why my joy can never be taken.
Do I hope for suffering? Of course not. Am I tempting fate? May it never be! My sincere hope is that Christ would return long before I feel the pain of anything dark or evil. I seek not the discipline of the Lord as it is promised in Hebrews. In fact I pray against it... at least to the extent that suffering might be mine. Weak? Yes, but true. Anyhow, no matter what happens in the future, these, I declare, are MY golden years. If I live to be a hundred and suffer every day between now and them, my hope is that I would always recall the season I'm in now. If it be the best I ever have, it is enough.
(And though I declare here and now, I beg you Lord, please don't test me on it!)
