Grumps Don’t Age Well

by Lynn Ludwick

About two-dozen people had shown up for the party, an assortment of family and sort-of-family members ranging from a toddler to a few grandparents. During the afternoon I studied two sixty-something brothers I’d known since they were in their twenties. The way they’d aged fascinated me. The younger brother suffered poor health and good eating, and his weight and ailments attested to both those facts. The older brother had kept trim, rode long distances with his bicycle club, and ate properly.

The main difference, however, showed on each man’s face. Mr. Younger beamed and joked with everyone, making us feel comfortable and at ease. Mr. Older came across as anything but jolly, his stern face and rigid speech showcasing his legalistic philosophy of life. With him we felt uncomfortable and ill at lease. And he looked far older than his years.

Though the older brother claimed a personal relationship with God, he fell short of advertising the joy of the Lord. The two men brought to mind Solomon’s thoughts on cheery faces and happy hearts. “A happy heart makes the face cheerful.” Proverbs 15:13 “A cheerful look brings joy to the heart…” Proverbs 15:30 Hmm, a full circle of cause and effect. If my heart is happy, my face will show it and give joy to others. Likewise, another person’s cheery face produced by a happy heart brings joy to my heart. Further, “A cheerful heart is good medicine…” Proverbs 17:22

Oh my, I want it all—a happy, cheerful heart and a happy, cheerful face. Such hearts and faces also bring on laughter. A friend recently told me that suppressed laughter goes straight to the hips! While I’m not sure how true that statement is, the thought urges me to laugh more. At the party, people laughed with the younger brother, while laughing at the older. I hope if people laugh at me, it’s because of something funny I said or did—and I’ll laugh right along with them.

I so want to age well, and I’m thinking crinkly smile lines framing my eyes will grace my face far better than permanent frown ditches in my forehead. But more, I want my heart to age well—to abound with good spiritual health. Smiles and laughter come from a heart nurtured in rich and intimate relationship with the Lord.

When I’m old I want my children and grandchildren to remember the sage advice and pearls of wisdom I dropped along the way. But I also want them to laugh as they recall their wacky mother/grandmother who loved life and lived it with a merry heart.

“…the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10

Lynn Ludwick writes from Medford, Oregon. lynniegirl45@hotmail.com