AGING

As I have been plunged deeply into that time of life when sunsets follow quickly on the heels of sunrises, I find that I hear more and more quips about aging:

You must be as old as dirt! (I was even given a hat with this bright note on it)
Was Nephi your first missionary companion?
Were your missionary scriptures written on papyrus?
If you were a dog you would have been dead long ago!
Aging isn't for sissies!
You have to be tough to grow old!
Age is just a number!
Old age isn't so bad when you consider the alternative!
Age is a high price to pay for maturity!
I am still on this side of the grass!
It is important to have a twinkle in your wrinkle!

Since many of you have already heard these and many more and all of you will hear them sooner or later, let this small sampling of quips suffice and I will get on with my own personal thoughts about aging.

Let me begin with a few thoughts on some misconceptions I have harbored about aging over the years.

Adding candles on top of a cake will add to maturation.
Loss of sight will increase insights.
Loss of hearing will be replaced by an increased sensitivity to the whisperings of the spirit.
Loss of nimbleness will hasten kindness and goodness.
Difficulty in remembering will make you a curmudgeon.
Many years of golfing will help your score.
Repentance will be an automatic result of getting older.
There will come a time when you are able to do exactly what you want to do.
All relationships will grow stronger.
You can work your way past all obstacles.
With wrinkles comes wisdom.

I will finish these thoughts on aging with some things I have found to bring great joy as gray replaces brown on each of our crowns.

Even eyes which have dimmed seem to see more things which are beautiful surrounding them.
Even though some ranges of sounds are lost as mortality fades, an appreciation for those melodies which remain deepens.
As the pace of our steps slow the destination when arrived at is more gratefully greeted.
Peacefulness becomes more pleasant and desired than the anxiousness of adventure.
Home, however humble, brings greater happiness than castles abroad.
The relationships which are of most importance will add to your strength.
You gain comfort in the realization that some mountains do not need to be climbed, that some valleys do not need to be crossed.
You understand that the applause of the crowd was far from the purpose of life.
Commandments become hurdles bringing happiness rather than barricades bringing restrictiveness to my life.
Remembrances of veiled times return as your closeness to Heavenly Parents increases.
Wrinkles become a badge of honor.

As sunsets roll more quickly behind sunrises I am grateful that my joy continues to increase with the same rapidity.