Let’s start with this short story, which I used in a previous article but is worth considering again.
A medical student was shocked when he received a failing grade in radiology. Approaching the professor, he demanded to know the reason for the grade. “Do you remember the X-ray you took of yourself?” the professor asked. “I do,” the student said. “A fine picture,” the professor said, “of your lungs, stomach and liver.” “If it’s a fine picture, then why did you give me an F?” the student asked. “I had no choice,” the professor said. “You didn’t put your heart into it.”
On Aug. 23, I will be 75 years old. I’ve never been this old before. My childhood here in Phoenix seems like a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Dinosaurs were still roaming the Salt River when I was born.
I recently went to an antique show where people started bidding on me. I’ve survived the ’60s twice. Looking up at the sky, I have no idea which cloud holds all my data. And being cremated is my last hope for a smoking, hot body. And I run like the “winded.” My stomach is flat — the “l” is just silent. When I drive to the store, my wife, when she can’t find me in the store, says to her cashier, “My soulmate is out there somewhere pushing on a door that says pull.”
Let me share an “aha” with you, which someone in South Africa noticed in 2019. This revelation could transform how you think or even look, whether young or old. It’s one thing to be 70 years old and quite another to be 70 years young. It’s even another thing to be 50 years old or 50 years young.
At that time in South Africa, many people kept asking me, “How old are you? You have so much energy. You are relevant and contemporary. You inspire us. You are different. You are creating personal revivals inside us. You are in your early 60s, right?” Please understand those people said this about me, not me. So far, it seems, I have been traveling by stealth as far as my age.
The South African man I referred to earlier approached me and also tried to guess my age. Eventually, I told him I was turning 70 years old soon, which surprised him. Then he said something I will never forget. It shook me. It changed me. It was like he handed me a key to a life I had never seen before in the way I see it now.
Here is what he said: “I know why you are the way you are, looking, thinking and speaking younger than your age. You look forward. You think forward. You’re not retreating. You’re advancing. You still have things to do, and you know it and are doing it.” I didn’t know I was doing that. He gave me words, articulating a transformational quality of life principle.
Here’s the principle: Barring complex health, genetic or life issues, a key to finding gold in the golden years is to keep facing and looking forward. Often, older people quit looking and thinking forward, moving into a “survive” rather than “thrive” mode. Many are not sick; they are stuck. Like the story this article started with, they quit putting their heart into life.
I admire people who are young at heart, especially older people. They accomplish more. They persevere, look up, live “up” and perform “up,” even when life throws them a few curves. Many times, the difference between abundant life and abundant strife is heart. Older people, maybe you aren’t what you used to be physically, but you can still have “heart.”
Younger people, I have some bad news for you. Someday, you’ll be as old as me or, worse yet, look like me. Here’s my advice: Look forward, engage life with heart and finish strong, and even when you are older, you will feel younger. That’s called facing forward.
Jesus had “heart.” He said, “The food that keeps me going is that I do the will of the One who sent me, finishing the work He started.” Jesus was born to accomplish an incredible mission, and He embraced it. He raised people’s dignity. He healed them physically, emotionally and spiritually. He loved them to the point of dying for them. Even at the end of His life, Jesus kept facing forward.
What’s the takeaway here? We can’t live off someone else’s forward-facing heart. The best way to face forward is to set an achievable goal with a deadline for yourself and put your heart into it. You may find the deadline you set is a lifeline in disguise. It might even restore some of your youth. So, face forward! If you are not facing forward, what area of your life do you need to face forward? The smallest step in the right direction always creates joy.
Do you see that? Even at my age, I can still say a thing or two about a thing or two. Why did I write this article? I just felt like someone out there needed this article this week.
