This entire week I was home, sick with the flu! All that I planned to do, including attending our Wednesday Bible Study, I had to cancel.  Men propose; God disposes! We must make plans, but we must not hold on to the plans; instead, as James (4:15), the brother of Our Lord teaches us, we ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”  Not only must we surrender our plans to God, but we must also leave the results to Him and be open to His changing our plans.  The problem is, it’s easier said than done, isn’t it?

I used to think that all we do is to prepare us for our adult years.  We go to school, choose certain vocation, find the right spouse, etc., so we will have a good life as adults. But now I realize that all we do is to prepare us for our older years.  Or should I say that we should intentionally prepare not only for our adult years but also for our older years.  I think most of us only plan up to our adult years, until our children leave home and have families of their own.  Little do we know that beyond adult years there is another chapter of life. Or should I say that we know that there is another chapter of life, but we somehow think that it’ll simply be an outflow of the adult years.

We, who are now on Medicare, know that it is not so. This period of life could become not only a new chapter but also a new book. So much going on and so many unexpected turns of events.  We often wonder what is going on and what went wrong.  Well, sometimes things happen beyond our control such as a fall in the park can land us not only in a hospital bed but also in our bed for a long time.  But some things are under our control, and which we can prepare for.

There are two that come to mind.  First are spiritual values.  What we sow we will reap.  If we sow values such as love and kindness, we’ll receive love and kindness in return.  Second is relationships.  We, who nurture relationships, will always be in somebody’s heart.

Pastor Paul