When I think of institutions of higher education, I very often find myself thinking of young people– young people graduating from high school, young people going away to college, young people opening their wings and soaring into their futures. I am quite proud of our HELM Leadership Fellows, gifted young people going after their dreams, and I am also proud of our undergraduate and graduate educational institutions that give our students wings to fly. However, in this month’s column I want to pivot a bit and connect with all of you who, like me, are in the category of older individuals described as “senior citizens.”
Did you know that Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, lying on his back on a scaffold, at almost 90 years old? Paderewski, at 79, was still playing the piano with gusto. At age 88, John Wesley preached every day. Tennyson, when 83, wrote Crossing the Bar. Booth Tarkington wrote 16 novels after the age of 60, some when he was almost completely blind. Benjamin Franklin went to France in service of his country when he was 78 and wrote his autobiography when past the age of 80.
Imagine what God might have in store for you– whether you’re running away from old age, starring it in the eyes, or feeling it is catching up with you. Surely there are accomplishments still waiting. Maybe there is unfinished business that needs finishing. Whatever your case may be, here are three gems to guide you in your senior years:
- The one who dwells in the past grows old before his/her time.
- The one who lives in the future remains young forever.
- We justify our existence not by adding years to our lives, but by adding life to our years.
As Browning has written:
“Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be, the last of life,
for which the first was made. Our times are in his hand who
saith, ‘A whole I planned, youth shows but half; Trust God:
See all, nor be afraid!”
Browning’s words have always been some of my favorite, but my confidence in them was shaken when I learned in a literature class that he was only 28 years old when he wrote them. Then again, I thought, maybe some 28-year-olds have an expansive view of that ‘other half.’
Such literary and poetic gems stand on my bookshelf in one of my favorite reference works, Familiar Quotations by John Bartlett. This is an excellent work that I have praised to pastors across the country to add substance to their sermons, Bible studies, and presentations.
As Higher Education and Leadership Ministries moves into its future, I encourage you to give some consideration not only to those living in the first half of their lives, but to those living in the second half as well. Transforming institutions know how to reach out to both.
Second half-ly yours,
Ron