Susan with her granddaughter Eve at the Minnesota State Fair.

By Susan Shanklin

Life is short…..seasons are short. Each year I get older and it doesn’t seem possible!

I am a big fan of the local thrift store and they have introduced a perk of 5 percent off if you are 60 years or older.

One afternoon as I was going through the racks of lady’s tops I overheard this plan and wondered if they would ask me……. But the elder lady working the counter didn’t ask me how old I was, so I was THRILLED! I floated home on cloud nine and told Tom. Yesterday, I purchased some sweatshirts for Tom and a couple of long sleeve tops for myself. With confidence I stroll up to the counter and begin chatting with the elder volunteer. I figure if I chat she will be distracted enough to not ask my age.

Much to my chagrin she asks, “Are you 60?”

I was stunned. I was devastated.

I slowly nodded my head and said, “Yes.”

My misery was worth a total of 55 cents off the purchase. I don’t know why it bothered me so.

When I got home I, lip sticking out, told Tom my misadventure.

“Ah,” he says, “it’s because of the color of your hair.”

Ha! Leave it to a man to point out the little flaws…if you want to call it that.

My dear mother-in-law, Opal, hated being old. When we moved her to an assisted living facility close to our home in Mankato, we walked in and she cracked, “Look at all these old people!”

I wanted to say, “What do you think you are?”

Opal never did learn to accept the aging process, so I’m sure that’s why she lived to be almost 94.

I’m not bothered by my age or my silver hair. I do hate the term “gray hair” though.

I truly don’t know why I got on this subject of age… Shrug. It doesn’t bother me unless you point it out in a negative manner!

Being negative never seems to produce much fruit.

I see the president get negative and then the congress. Then the networks go negative and the opinion writers. It all spirals downward and sometimes we pick up this negative spirit and just get more sour.

Father God has surely put forth the best and more perfect plan. If you just think back to the beginning and the beautiful garden, we had it “made in the shade” so to speak. It was all good—man and woman, trees and animals, sky and earth, and a “Voice” that walked about in the cool of the day. Ahhhhhhhhhhh. Heaven on earth.

But Mr. Negative slithered on in and Adam listened and obeyed.

That’s right. Adam obeyed the devil. Adam wasn’t forced to, but he choose to listen and respond to an evil report, and the seed was planted in Adam to question the goodness of God and His perfect plan for his life. Never mind that Eve was involved it this too…which makes it a blame game, Ha!

I’m so glad God gave me a chooser/brain. I’m so glad that since I was born again my spirit man/woman helps my brain to know what is the best choice to make in the big and small things of life.

It is always my choice how to react or act. You can try to make me react or act out, but in the end I am the one with the sole responsibility for my actions. No way can you say, “The devil made me do it.” No, you decided. Hey, hey, I’m preaching to myself.

We had a guest speaker at our church last week, Dr. Beth Langstaff-Foell, and she spoke about wisdom and how to get it. Her challenge was to read a chapter of Proverbs a day for 30 days. Knowing and listening and acting on wisdom is a real key to a better life here on earth.

I think this whole getting wisdom bit will keep you from getting old—old in spirit and old in mind.

Something that she said that struck me was that wisdom sometimes comes to us in plain packages and therefore we tend to throw it away. Kind of like what the world does with Jesus. Wisdom will meet us in the middle of the road as we seek it and embrace it.

Life is short and seasons are short. Each year I get older. It’s up to me to read the road signs and to stay on His highway. See you there!