In a few days, I will turn 75. For some reason, My approaching birthday carries with it a sense of significance. 

On a recent visit with our extended family, my brother-in-law who is a physician, asked about my health. He asked if I was taking any prescription medications. I told him I wasn’t taking any meds and apart from some aches and pains associated with aging, I was healthy. He said for a man of my age it was remarkable I was not on any medications. In our conversation, I took no credit for my health and quickly commented that my life was in God’s hands.

Perhaps my only prescription for life is understanding the shortness of life and that wealth, position, and even our giftings, do not make for a happy and healthy life. It is the daily pursuit of intimacy with God, amid our many mistakes, that makes us spiritually healthy. 

Over the years the Lord has been working with me reminding me of the shortness of this life and where to place my efforts and values. Any health I have, both spiritual and physical, comes from God.

David wrote, “Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered – how fleeting my life is. You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand. My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best, each of us is but a breath” (Psalm 39:4-5). A life of faith is a series of constant reminders of the fleeting nature of this life. 

As we grow older and the clock of our life approaches midnight, we come to realize just how fleeting this life is as the reality of our passing grows closer. Our earthly life is so short, it is just a moment to God. The day of our passing will be exhaling the breath of this life to inhale the promise of eternal life.

All of us are guests of God passing through this life and preparing to enter eternity, “For I am your guest – a traveler passing through, as my ancestors were before me” (vs. 12). We are guests of God traveling through the ups and downs of this life. Our response to life’s challenges will determine if we are holding onto the temporary things of this life or opening ourselves up to the hope of what is to come.

As we mature in our faith, we learn to not hold onto the things that will deplete our faith by embracing and striving after what will eventually be left behind for others. There is something very freeing about growing older in the Lord.

A lightness takes place in our being as we age because we are no longer holding on to things that will have to remain in this life at our passing. Our health and any measure of our earthly success, whatever that health and success look like, will be part of our passing breath as we inhale eternity and take on the new bodies the Lord has promised for those who have followed Him.