A dull ache in a bone I never knew existed. A dimple now replaced by a wrinkle. A wheeze when there used to be a yawn. These subtle reminders that a small piece of me is failing every day. Each failing reminds me of the need for an inner peace.
Every day a small outer piece fails and every day a small inner peace grows. Slow and steady decline in muscle tone and stamina that is at first imperceptible is matched by a growing strength in character and determination. My appetites changes because I can no longer imbibe, ingest or digest what I once could. I enjoy the tastes, but now a small sample will suffice.
Now I need a second look, another reminder and sometimes a backward step. Now I realize that to take a second look is to exercise caution not fear. To remind myself it is important that I don’t repeat the failings and to take a backward step keeps me from tumbling off the cliffs.
Indeed, I have become older. Wiser is the objective.
This outer failing is slowly manifesting itself in ways that remind me of my mortality.
I will face the same end as all flesh as the preacher states in Ecclesiastes chapter 9. No matter how much I accumulate in this life, whatever my accomplishments may be, no matter how well I am known, like, disliked, envied or admired, the outer me is perishing day by day. I lose a piece of me every day outwardly. The objective is to grow a peace within me inwardly every day.
That is what the Apostle Paul meant when he penned 2 Corinthians 4:16 “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.”
The Holy Ghost is there to help us grow in this inner peace that only comes from knowing Christ more fully every day. As you perish outwardly, grow inwardly. As each outward piece fails, inward peace should prevail.