NOT SO "HOPPY" ANYMORE!

Although God dresses the Energizer Bunny in white fur and you can't really see his gray hair, as he grows older, his whiskers do get white, his ears flop and his hop isn't so "hoppy" anymore. That's how I'm beginning to feel as the calendar pages turn. I don't hop, nor do I run anymore. I count myself blessed that I can still get out of bed and walk, no matter how haltingly. My “get up and go” has “got up and went.”

When one reaches the summit years, it is a given that weariness starts to become a constant companion. Goal setting is not the priority that it once was. Energy is at a low ebb and recharging has become more difficult and frequent. Advanced age tends to pull fatigue along like a caboose. 

Isaiah wrote about the loss of vigor and zip in chapter forty of his prophetic book. He addressed “the weary, him who lacks might, grows tired, and stumbles badly”—yes, that's me, Isaiah. But it turns out he is talking about “vigorous youths!” What about the chronologically challenged like me? 

 

ENERGY CRISIS

I used to rise up, Lord

and run quite a distance

bubbling with enthusiasm

when life was exciting and fun

—and I was a good bit younger.

Lord, now I sit down a lot

too often with weariness

discouraged, deflated

bone-tired and limp

overwhelmed with just surviving

hanging on 'til the finish line.

All I can do is slump in a lump

on the sofa and snooze.

I confess to an energy crisis.

From being a fireball

at the start of the day

I soon call a halt

to life's hectic race

and think about bedtime

when I can drift away

hoping while sleeping

to recharge

my exhausted battery

someway.

You know it all, Lord:

my downsittings

and my uprisings

and how often I vacillate

from one to the other.

You said You understand.

I'm counting on that, Lord.

In Your love and care I rest

content to lean

with my ups and downs

upon Your breast.

***

“You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

You understand my thought from afar.” (Psalm 139:2)

Good news or bad news, let me hear the rest of it, Isaiah.

He comes through and surely he includes all seasons of life and all of us through the centuries in his encouraging declaration. Isaiah meant me too!

“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings as eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.”

God has provided a way to get re-charged, to increase our power, to get our energy surge! He wants us to plug into Himself because He never becomes weary. If I am “in Christ” and indwelt by the Holy Spirit who is the Ultimate Power Source, I can soar effortlessly with the eagles on the thermal currents which they wait for before they can take off. If I depend on flopping my wings in my own strength, I not only tire from running but I get weary even from walking.

There is only one way for a Christian to be a good runner or power-walker at any age—we have to stay plugged into The Power Source!