With Age Comes ...

“With age comes wisdom, but sometimes age comes alone.”

― Oscar Wilde

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With age come wrinkles!  With age come those little aches and pains.  Experts tell us that eyesight and hearing are the first of the senses to go.  In essence, with aging we experience a slow deterioration of bodily functions.  Deterioration doesn't seem like a very promising word.  According to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, “aging” is a “Gradual change in an organism that leads to increased risk of weakness, disease, and death.”   The definition goes on, but enough said about that!  

I’m one of those people that happen to believe that there is always some good in everything.  So what do you get from aging that might be considered good?   With aging comes wisdom, or at least it should!    Really!  All you get is wisdom!  Hardly seems like a fair trade for deteriorating bodily functions, weakness, disease, and ….   Seriously, who really wants to lose their hair, their teeth, their senses, and in some instances, their memory (did I already mention that!)?  But wait, wisdom has a way of enhancing us spiritually, emotionally and soulfully.  

Wilde said, “With age comes wisdom, but sometimes age comes alone.”  Don’t be one of those people who grow older, but not wiser.  You have to be open to receive the gift of wisdom that comes from aging.  Wisdom comes from experience, and the thoughtful reflection and analysis of the experience. 

With age comes tolerance and with tolerance comes wisdom:  The longer you live, the more you’ll experience.  You’ll be exposed to a variety of different people, cultures, and lifestyles.   Take the opportunity to embrace all people from all walks-of-life and respect and appreciate the differences.   The more you know about the world and the people in it know the wiser you become! 

With age comes perseverance and with perseverance comes wisdom:  The longer you live, the more adversity you’ll encounter.  Adversity is full of lessons:  lessons about you, lessons about others, and lessons about the world.  It takes perseverance to survive in the face of adversity.  Think of the adversity that you have encountered in your life, be it big or small; you persevered, made it through, and learned a lesson or two.  The more you persevere the more lessons you learn and the more lessons you learn the wiser you become!  

With age comes self-acceptance and with self-acceptance comes wisdom:  The longer you live, the less you care about what others think about you.  The contrast and comparison of yourself with others becomes fleeting when you age.  Experience has taught you that what you think of yourself is far more important that what others think of you.  When you learn to accept and love yourself, despite your imperfections and shortcomings, you’re being you!  And, there is a lot to be gained from being true to you!   

With age comes a better understanding of what’s important in life and with that better understanding comes wisdom:  When we’re younger we tend to be guided by societal and cultural norms.  Society tells us what’s important.    Age we age, we become less concerned with the dictates of society and more concerned with what’s really important to us.   We learn through loss that nothing last forever and the only thing we really own is our souls.   We’re not as concerned with the past or the future.  We learn to live in the moment.  Living in the moment allows us to extract all of the love and the beauty from the moment.  We learn to focus on what we have and not what we don’t have.   We learn that the secret to having it all is the knowledge that you already do. Experience is the great teacher!  There’s true wisdom in knowing what are the important things in life.   

Remember, with age comes wisdom or at least it should!   By the grace of the Good Lord, thus far, I have lived 19,046 days on this wonderful planet.  Knowing what I know now – I’d rather be old and wise than young and foolish – any day!   

It’s your life: live it, love it & celebrate it!
MJD