In the holiday cottage we stayed at recently there was a DVD collection so we took the opportunity to watch a couple of films. The first was The Strange Case of Benjamin Button. The film starts and ends in a residential home for old people, a place where time is marked by the passing away of one person after another. One night a newborn baby is left at the door step to the home. Its father left him there because although he is the size of a normal baby his body is that of a 90 year old man. A care worker in the home nurses the baby who gets younger as it grows bigger. It’s a great concept to highlight the issues of life and ageing and death. As the baby gets younger through the movie the fact that everyone else gets older is accentuated. It's like two trains passing each other from opposite directions create the illusion of twice the speed. It also allows you to see the symmetry of the ageing process. A great quote from the film is “We all end up in diapers!”. How true. In all likelihood I will end up being cared for by others - totally reliant on those around me. I’m around the half way mark now which really puts things into perspective!
I was talking with friends the other day about how when you are young you feel like you will live forever. Death can be obscured by all the living there is to do. Now I’m older I can see the light at the end of the tunnel (and thanks to Jesus it is a light and not utter darkness!). There must be lots of people facing the same situation but without knowing what to expect on the other side of death. I wonder what that feels like.
I want to give my strength to God now even as I feel it ebbing away. I want to get to know him now so when my strength fails I’ll still have a rich and rewarding relationship with my father, and my saviour and my helper.
Eccles. 12:1 (NIV)
Remember your Creator
in the days of your youth,
before the days of trouble come
and the years approach when you will say,
"I find no pleasure in them"
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