WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU TURN 70 

Had Cecil Hook not written to me with the presumption that I would be saying something in this journal about "your threescore and ten" I probably would not be writing this piece. Since he recently turned 70 himself, he may have been looking for sympathy or company or maybe even advice. But he has lots of company -"America is greying," they say. Everyone is getting older, that's for sure, and one greys long before he's 70.

Anyway, I'm writing about turning 70, especially in terms of what one should do when she turns 70. I'll start by telling what I did on my "threescore and ten," except that it is really the day before, the eve of my 70th, for tomorrow, my birthday, is Sunday, and I don't sit down to this word processor on Sundays. The Lord's day is always special - going to church several times, including a visit to some church besides my own; calling a ta nursing home; visiting with people. Saturdays are more routine, and this Saturday, "my last day this side of 70," as I put it to Ouida, is a typical Saturday.

I was up at 4:30 a.m. to help Ouida with Mother Pitts then back to bed until 6 a.m. By 6:30 I began my two-mile run down Windsor Drive and back, which I do each day except Sunday. I look forward to it and find it invigorating, spiritually as well as physically.

Still in my jogging gear, I then spend an hour and a half at my desk reading, devotionally one might say, for this is time for soul-searching reading (it is really study) that I probably would not get done if I did not do it early on. I always have assignments for these 90 minutes. One thing I am now doing is reading through Calvin's Institutes on the Christian Religion, little by little. I find myself identifying with the old reformer as he grapples with weighty theological issues, even when I do not always agree with him. I appreciate his devotion to the Scriptures and his commitment to the sovereignty of God. And the older I get the more convinced I am that Calvin was far more right than he was wrong. If one allows him to speak for himself rather than to listen to all the representations of Calvinism, then Calvin comes out with high marks. And does he ever challenge the reader to think!

This morning Calvin was working with the proposition that one is able to understand the mysteries of God only insofaras he is illuminated by God's grace. At one point he puts it this way, "Nothing is accomplished by preaching unless the inner teacher, the Spirit, opens the way into our minds." He quotes Paul in 1 Cor. 2:14 to the effect that "the natural man," whom Calvin defines as one who trusts in the light of nature or in his own capacities, cannot receive the things of God since they are spiritually discerned. He refers to David as one of great wisdom, and yet he prayed, "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things from thy law" (Ps. 119:18). He laid on me a verse I had not seen before: "With thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light" (Ps. 36:9). To Calvin this means that God gives us light (illumination) so that we can see His light. He also drew heavily from Paul in Eph. 1:17-18 where the apostle speaks of "the eyes of your understanding being enlightened" so that you can know what is the hope of His calling. Then there is Jer. 24:7, "I will give them a heart to know me," and Jn. 6:44 where our Lord says, "No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him." To Calvin these passages show that God must "touch men's hearts" (1 Sam. 10:26) if they come to him. When you read Calvin you are exposed to a lot of Scripture, and it may be passages with which you are not familiar or that are interpreted differently. That is good for us!

Then I read portions from both Testaments, along with appropriate commentary. I am presently reading through H. L. Ellison's translation and commentary of Exodus. This morning I was in Ex. 28 where the elegant garments of Aaron the high priest are described. Ellison drew the contrast between Aaron as a representative of God to the people dressed in "gold, blue, and purple and scarlet stuff, and fine twined linen" and the more perfect representation of God who came in the form of a poor Galilean villager. I agreed with him that "One may therefore reasonably question the justification for ornate ecclesiastical robes." I was reminded that when the high priest went before God he wore over his breast the names of the twelve tribes engraved on precious stones, indicating, we may presume, that he represented these people. When our High Priest went to the Cross and into the presence of God he wore our names in his heart, representing us in the death he died.

In the New Testament I am presently going through William Barclay's translation and commentary on Matthew, and this a.m. I read the section on Mt. 12:43-45, which Barclay refers to as "The Peril of the Empty Heart," drawn from Jesus' parable of the house haunted by an evil spirit. When the spirit is driven out, he soon returns and brings seven more spirits with him, so that the last state of the person is worse than the first. "So it is with this evil generation," Jesus concludes. The point is that while the haunted house was swept clean of its evil inhabitant it was left empty, allowing the evil spirit to return with even greater power. Barclay notes that while evil can be driven from us it is never destroyed, and so it stands ready for another attack. We must therefore fill the house with good things. Barclay catches the essence with, "A man's life must not only be sterilized from evil; it must be fructified to good." It is the willful emptiness and vapidness of our lives, our refusal to draw upon the great resources of power available to us, that Jesus is condemning.

I took time at this early hour to call a family in Illinois, a member of which was recently diagnosed as having cancer. They had called to tell us when I was not home. They are dear friends of many years, and we know this is a hard time for them. I reminded them of the power of believing and of our assurance as believers that no matter what happens everything will be all right. I shared with them the verse that I had memorized for today, one that Calvin had referred to as being so dear to St. Augustine, Ps. 57:1. It takes on special meaning when we realize that David, a man after God's own heart, was inspired to write those lines while he was hiding in a cave from the fury of King Saul. 

Be merciful to me, 0 God, be merciful to me!
For my soul trusts in You;
And in the shadow of Your Wings I will make my refuge,
Until these calamities have passed by. 

At 8:30 I dashed upstairs to dress in time to meet Ouida for breakfast and to catch the news for the day. I always have a point to make ora question to ask Ouida, usually drawn from my morning study. When I laid on her a little more of Calvin, particularly his idea that a person cannot even will to do good except as God grants grace, she responded with "That puts the onus on God!" When I quoted her one of Calvin's prooftexts, "It is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure" Philip. 2:13), she conceded that Calvin had a point. She could live with the idea when I assured her that Calvin did not rule out human responsibility. 

Then it was back to my study to sort and read mail, answer letters, spend time on the phone, and, with Ouida now joining me, ordering and sending out books, paying bills, etc. As there is time I think about the next issue of this journal, and this a.m. I got started on this piece. 

After lunch I take another hour and a half for a read-myself-to-sleep nap, and this is when I read The Christian Science Monitor, which is surely one of the great newspapers of the world and among the most objective and unbiased. It is superb in its international coverage. In every issue there are substantive articles on some culture far removed from our own. Today there were articles on South Korea's unfinished revolution, Muslin fundamentalism in Afghanistan, and the progress of Solidarity in Poland. The editorials are also excellent, relevant and hard hitting. Recently there was a "Memo to Bush," urging him to say certain things in his inaugural address and then to act upon them, one being that he would be the President of all the people, and that he would reach out to the millions of blacks who did not want him as President, and thus make an effort to unite the nation rather than having two nations, one white and one black. I was so impressed by the editorial that I clipped it and sent it to our Republican senator from Texas, Phil Gramm, with an attending note, urging him to see to it that the editorial got to the Bush people, that he could probably get their attention better than I could. I have learned that notes and letters to politicians are not usually ignored. The Bush staff would almost certainly notice the Monitor editorial anyway, but when they get clipped copies of something with attending notes, it gets their attention. I am hopeful the next President will be more obviously sensitive to the plight of the poor black people and all minorities.

I found time on my birthday eve to rake leaves and gather pecans. Little by little we have picked up about 40 pounds, a bumper crop this year. It is even more fun to sit alongside Ouida and shell them! Following supper I read to Ouida and Mother Pitts from the Scriptures and other devotional material, and we commit ourselves to the Lord's safekeeping. Then again after retiring I read to Ouida, a few pages at a time, from something special. Presently we are reading The City of Joy, a moving story of life in a slum "city" in Calcutta.

Tonight we went to our church's Christmas progressive dinner, now a tradition with us. We went to one home for appetizers. There we found out where we were to go for dinner, and it is always fun to see who ends up at what house. Then we all go to one large home for dessert, with fellowship on into the night. Delightful! Ouida was able to do this with me by leaving Mother Pitts for short periods, and by checking on her between one home and the next!

It is now a few days later. So went my birthday eve. On my birthday I visited two more churches in Denton, both new ones. Early a.m. I visited Unity of Denton Church, now meeting in a store front, but well organized and taking it seriously. In the evening I visited the new Mormon church, a large facility (gymnasium, etc) that they call their Stake Center. I had already visited their other church. They now have four stakes (congregations) meeting in the two facilities. That night they had a joint Christmas program, with choirs from all four stakes performing. I noticed that, unlike the Jehovah's Witnesses who sing only their own songs, the Mormon hymnal is replete with great songs of the church, Wesley, Luther, Watts, Newman, etc., as well as their own. A good sign. I harbor hopes that the Mormons may one day (50 years?) be orthodox Christians. I intend to write about all these visits in detail in my ongoing series. I also attended my own Church of Christ, and we lit the third candle of Advent along with all other churches who follow the church calendar.

I also visited with several at a nursing home, one being my young friend Chris, who is a quadriplegic. I told him that he was young and I old and that we might not be in this world together for much longer, but that I will one day see him without his wheelchair, walking and talking and praising God, for there is One who sits on His throne in heaven, who promises that He will one day make all things new, and that includes Chris. He can't talk to me but he understands what I say, and he really cottoned to that. He gave me a big smile and tried the best he could, with his deformed arms, to hug my neck.

In preparing for this piece I made a list of words that might serve as principles on how to live when you turn 70, but they might well apply to any age. Ideas have consequences even at age 70. Here is what I came up with.

Work. Without work life has no meaning. We might change pace but we can never stop working. Work in this world prepares us for the work we will do in another world. Retiring from work is unthinkable.

Perspective. We must ever deepen and broaden our perspective, and as the philosopher William James put it, "imagine foreign states of mind," such as seeing life as it appears to an unemployed black man or to an abused child or a battered wife. If we had a world-view of things, we might find it liberating even if painful.

Tentativeness. When we are really free to think, conclusions need not be final. A free person can say, "This is how I see it 'as of now,' but I might change my mind." Ideas need not be cut and dried. We should be free to send up trial balloons. If they are shot down, well and good. We have learned something. There are of course absolutes, but everything does not have to be.

Commitment. Life lacks integrity without commitment, whether to one's work, marriage, church, country, friends. It is those who hang in year after year, through thick and thin alike, who are the real builders, whether of homes, churches, or nations.

Adventure. An old Indian proverb is that one can't cross the sea by standing and looking at the water. One of our own is "Nothing ventured, nothing gained," and that is the difference in many people's lives. We have to go on taking chances, all the way. The greatest adventure of all is to love, which bears all thing, hopes all things, believes all things, endures all things.

Precipitousness. This big word goes far in saying what life is all about. We have to take risks and live dangerously, such as being willing to think and to be different if need be. It might mean associating with the rejects of church and society, like Jesus did.

Resilience. Buoyancy and recovery power are evidence of inner strength. It is the ability to bounce back. If you fall, pick up something while you're down! Life will level lethal blows, so we must have the resources of power to take it and to heal. It is those who refuse to bend who break. Poise, grace under pressure, is a precious virtue.

History-conscious. History matters. The struggle of our parents and our forefathers matters. The martyrdom of Polycarp, Hus, and Savonarola matters. What Luther, Calvin, and Campbell thought matters. The history of ideas and the struggle for truth matter. This is why the church is not guided by the Bible alone, but also by two thousand years of dedicated effort to understand and to interpret it aright. This makes us catholics in the truest sense.

Compromise. While we can never compromise the eternal verities, we must learn to make the reasonable compromises as we bargain with life and with self. Yieldingness is no mean virtue.

Gratitude. This is the antidote for greed and selfishness, for as we cultivate thankfulness for others and what they have done we think about ourselves less. Gratitude and humility are twin virtues and basic ingredients for a joyous life.

Philanthropy. If there is ever a universal religion this will have to be its basis, for we must come to look beyond ourselves to the good of others. We show our love for God by loving others. To do good for good's (God's) own sake is life's greatest principle.

This list could be extended on and on, for I think also of compassion, duty, simplicity (the simple life), frugality, and doggedness as virtues I highly prize. But these are enough to make my point, which is that at age 70 or any other age we have but one acceptable choice and that is to be principled by living by principles.

We are not to conclude that because Moses was supposed to have prayed "Threescore and ten are the years of a person's life, and if by reason of strength fourscore" that God has decreed for us only 70 or 80 years. Longevity is increasing these days and this may continue for millennia to come. Moses was not only lamenting the brevity of life, which will still be short even if the years are doubled, but the vanity of life as well. In the same verse he complains, "Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cutoff, and we fly away" (Ps. 90:10). There is a similar lament in Ps. 102:11: "My days are like a shadow that lengthens, And I wither away like grass." Then there is the great contrast, which is the ground of our hope, "But You, 0 Lord, shall endure forever." That he takes us to Himself when we "fly away" is what religion is about.

The point of it all is made in Ps. 90:12: "So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom." That is what one is to do when she turns 70 or 40. As we count the years, which is a sobering experience, let us always apply our hearts unto that wisdom that knows God and enjoys Him forever. — the Editor

Hope writes the poetry of the boy, but memory that of the man. Man looks forward with smiles, but backward with sighs. Such is the wise providence of God. The cup of life is sweetness at the brim—the flavor is impaired as we drink deeper, and the dregs are made bitter that we may not struggle when it is taken from our lips.— Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Hope is the most beneficial of all the affections, and doth much to the prolongation of life, if it be not too often frustrated; but entertaineth the fancy with an expectation of good.— Francis Bacon