I am amazed at all the money spent on preventing people from aging.  You can find everything from creams to outright surgery.  More and more people are turning to these things and I’ll admit, I’ve considered a bit of an “Extreme Makeover” myself – especially after seeing how “having kids” has changed my body so dramatically.  I was not pleased to find stretch marks, varicose veins, loose skin, wrinkles and gray hair.  I’ve tried for a while to be thankful that I didn’t start graying as early as my dad (in his teens!) but it’s not nearly as comforting as the number of gray hairs continues to grow.

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.  Proverbs 31:30

I came across this well-known verse while searching for passages on beauty and age.  I get a little choked up when I think about fleeting youth and beauty.  I think it’s natural to want to cling to both.  The year I turned 30 my precious grandparents sent me a card.  Knowing I has having trouble with growing older they tried to comfort me by telling me getting older wasn’t so bad and then issued a warning that “it isn’t for sissies” mind you.

Have you ever met a woman in her seventies who was absolutely breath taking?  I have.  Not often, but I have known a few.  As I thought back on these women it occurred to me that what made them beautiful wasn’t necessarily their outward appearance.

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight.
1 Peter 3:3-4

These women were/are God fearing, God following women of great faith!  The Spirit of the Lord shown through them; lightening their burdens and brightening their countenance in all circumstances.

Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come.
Psalm 71:18

Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained by a righteous life.
Proverbs 16:31

A crown of splendor – wow, what a different perspective.  It certainly makes me wonder whether aging gracefully is so much about our physical maturing as it could be about our spiritual maturing.  When I consider this, suddenly I feel less concerned with those stretch marks and wrinkles and gray hair.  What would I gain being the youngest looking eighty year old woman on the face of the planet?  Physical age is coming no matter what we try to do to stop it.  But Spiritual age, that isn’t necessarily a given.  It’s something we chose to do and unlike fighting physical aging, it isn’t a losing battle.

What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
Matthew 16:26

I want to age gracefully in my walk with the Lord, that truly is what I desire.  Of course I should take care of my body (it is God’s temple after all) but my focus should be on maturing in our faith.  If my body belongs to God then who am I to complain that He wants to adorn it with a bit of silver?  Back to what my grandparents said about aging not being for sissies, I just wanted to leave you all with this verse:

Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you. Isaiah 46:4