Someone said, “Age is a state of mind.” If age is a state of mind, then why does my back go out?
Someone else said, “You’re as young as you feel.” Some days all we feel are our aches and pains, but, hey, don’t dwell on it.
How old are you? Joel Smith suggests an “age barometer” that helps us tell how old we are by tabulating how many changes we’ve lived through. Give yourself one point for each item you remember:
• Blackjack chewing gum
• Wax, coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water
• Candy cigarettes
• Drink machines that dispensed from the top
• Coffee shops with tableside jukeboxes
• Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers
• Party lines
• Newsreels before the main movie
• P. F. Flyers
• Butch wax
• Telephone numbers with a word prefix (Olive 2-6933)
• Peashooters
• Howdy Doody
• 45 RPM records
• S & H Green Stamps
• Hi-Fis
• Metal ice trays with levers
• Mimeograph paper
• Blue flashbulbs
• Officer Don (I was on the Popeye Club at least four times)
• Roller skate keys
• Cork popguns
• Drive-ins
• Studebakers
• The Atlanta Crackers
How many did you remember? If 0-5, you’re still young. If 6-10, you’re getting older. If 11-15, don’t tell your age. If 16-25, you’re older than dirt!
Wherever you fell, you are still young enough to learn and grow and enrich your life. It’s never too late to set goals and to strive toward greater productivity.
As we turn the calendar to 2012, the New Year gives great opportunities to assess where we are, and set direction for where we want to go. There’s a sense of freshness and promise as we start a new January. With God’s help, we can do better this year than we did last year. We can be a better person than we were last year.
Remember, there’s no standing still. We are either growing or drying up. I pray that my life is looking more and more like Jesus every day, and that I’m growing deeper and knowing Him more fully.
What goals are you setting for your personal growth this year? In his book, Success, Motivation and the Scriptures, William Cook includes a series of questions we can ask ourselves as we look to the future. Key questions include:
• Do all of my goals fit within the written, stated purpose of my life?
• Have I been honest enough to set goals in every area of my life (spiritual, recreational, professional, social, education, family and financial areas), believing that God is interested in the total me?
• Can my goals glorify God?
• Did I ask God for wisdom and guidance?
Now ask yourself, “Am I willing to allow Jesus Christ to be Lord of my life and preside over the reaching of these goals?”
And of course, at whatever stage we find ourselves, we should “trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:5, 6)
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Dr. David L. Chancey is pastor, McDonough Road Baptist Church, 352 McDonough Rd., Fayetteville. The church family invites you to join them this Sunday for Bible study at 9:45 a.m. and worship at 10:55 a.m. Visit them on the web at www.mcdonoughroad.org.
