Bearing (good) Fruit in Old Age

No-one grows old gracefully - automatically
For a number of years I preached, every week, at two different locations filled with elderly folk. And I know from first hand experience that no-one grows old gracefully, at least not automatically.

No-one, absolutely no-one.

Without the grace of God, older folk are - if anything - more difficult, more cantankerous, more stubborn, more proudful and more lacking in grace than their younger counterparts.

Of course there are mitigating circumstances, one could be tempted to argue.

Such as the new physical ailments of the latter years, so well described in Shakespeare's  As You Like It:

Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

Or perhaps the loss of future hope and the perennial harping back to some supposed "golden age" (that never actually was quite so golden), so well described by Pink Floyd in High Hopes:

The grass was greener
The light was brighter
The taste was sweeter
The nights of wonder
With friends surrounded
The dawn mist glowing
The water flowing
The endless river

Or perhaps the loss of present purpose or worth on account of the young ages at which folk retire today in the western world. 

Add these up together, and you could so easily end up with a cauldron of disappointments, self-centredness and ailments which can boil over into anger, resentment - or that terror of all terrors - the root of bitterness which defileth many.

Without the grace of God, old age may not only turn into a second childhood - it could become a first death.

The grace of God
But according to Holy Writ it need not be that way.

With the power of God's Spirit it is possible for a believer to grow old gracefully. I have in my mind many church members, both past and present, whose memories are a savour of life. Saints who both experienced the grace of God and expressed it in old age. Here is how it can be, taken from Psalm 92:

"The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God.

They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, “The Lord is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”

The first verse should apply to every saint of God, the second to those who in their old age remain close to the Lord, "planted in the house of the Lord."

Still bearing fruit in old age - still winsome saints who seek the wellbeing of others

Still fresh and green - still able to bend to the changes of the ages

Still worshipping - "The Lord is upright"

When I am old and Gray
I vow, by the grace of God, to be the greatest encourager in my local church
I vow, by the grace of God to be the first to embrace all good change
I vow, by the grace of God always to look forward and not harp on about ye mythical past