Well, seems like I'll complete yet another orbit around the sun tomorrow, meaning that June 9 is my birthday. Wishing you all the best, Dave.
I suppose birthdays serve as a reminder of the years gone by and the adventures ahead. As I turn 74, I'm reminded that Christ will continue to help me face the "big three" struggles of life.
The first is my struggle with the sarx, my human nature. It's been a long, weary battle (I've been a Christian since I was 8). But when we honestly confess our defeat and ask for the fullness of Christ, he performs a continuing miracle of making us more like himself.
He will also free me from the struggle to be adequate. I realize I'm completely insufficient for the demands of life. But I also know his all-sufficiency. There is no problem he can't solve, no person he can't love, and no challenge he's not able to meet.
He will relieve me from worrying about the future. What the Lord allows to happen to us he will use for the greater growth of his fullness in us. Whatever I will face in my 74th year will be an occasion for new dimensions of his character to be formed in me.
Paul's phrase "the stewardship of God's grace given to me" (Eph. 3:8) is a great motto for an aging grandfather. Everything that happens to us is not only for our personal growth in grace but for our ministry to others. We seniors know we're meant for more than survival. We can triumph in Christ.