Yesterday I took Marley for a walk on the frozen lake. Despite the cold wind from the east, I wanted to enjoy the openness of the lake while there is not much snow as a result of our last extreme thaw. We started out strong and followed the shoreline around the bay in front of our home. Before we had gone very far, I could feel the exhaustion building. Some days I feel like I can conquer the world. Yesterday was not one of those days. I turned around to head back to the house. The wind was now in my face and the pace slowed even more. Marley baulked at having to leave her beloved lake where she can virtually run all of the time and investigate every foot of shoreline with that nose that never stops working. I felt, as I made very slow progress, older than my years. Each step was an effort as my legs became heavier. As I was trudging along, my mind went to a whole other season and circumstance.
When I was fifteen years of age, I applied to take the Award of Merit course and examination from the Royal Life Saving Society. There was a problem. The minimum age for successful completion of the examination was sixteen. The instructor of the course was an air force officer who, although he invited me to stay for the first night of instruction, stated that I would have to wait until the next summer to complete the course and the examination. I reluctantly agreed to stay for one night. I participated and interacted with the mostly adult group in the swimming and life saving drills with some enthusiasm. At the end of the session, the instructor suggested that I could return for a second night if I wished, again just to monitor the course. I enjoyed the second session even more than the first, especially when the instructor made an offer that I could not refuse. He would allow me to take the course and try the examination and if I could maintain a very high standard in all the criteria, he would grant the Silver Medallion for the Award of Merit on my birthday the following winter.
I was delighted with the offer and attended every gruelling session. On nights that there was no formal instruction, I would attend at the pool in order to swim lengths to build up endurance. Over the course of the summer, I realized that I was physically stronger that I had ever been in my young life. What I didn’t realize of course was that I was in the best physical condition that I would ever be for the rest of my life as well. It would be all a slow decline from here. On the night of the physical part of the exam, I swam the required distance, the extent of which I have now forgotten, in seven minutes despite the fact that the requirement for the yardage of the various strokes was a fifteen minute completion. I watched wrapped in a towel while others struggled to finish the course. I can still remember how strong and ready to continue I felt. I was successful that night and indeed received the Award of Merit on a cold January evening the following winter.
What a difference forty-seven years can make. As I walked slowly and painfully into the wind yesterday, I was initially tempted to feel sorry for myself. Then the words of Job 1: 21-22 came to mind.
21 And he said: "Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD."
22 In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.
The afflictions visited upon Job, as allowed temporarily by the LORD, were almost unimaginable compared to my minor rapid aging concerns. Yet Job was able to keep the LORD in His proper place. He alone is God and as God, He can act as God. The Book of Job was the first book of the Bible read to me in its entirety by Lozanne. I continue to be in awe of this man Job who was able to keep his perspective on the lordship of his God despite great hardships. What an example he was to me yesterday.
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Gee, our son announced to us it was all a downhill slide from here on our 50th birthdays! Like you, we probably peaked around 15 too, Mark. I have been knocked down with a cold the last couple of weeks and I remarked to Gary how remarkedly short our prayers become at 4 a.m. when you can't sleep and are wandering around the house. I was struck this morning by the fact that my first prayers of late have been to thank God for who He is, and most of all for his sovereignty in our lives. Regardless of how we feel He is Lord and I am thankful for it. Kathy
ReplyDeleteLike you, it was nothing to run cross-country races and in the matter of 8 weeks or so, chalk up 500 cumulative miles of training. In the reserves, we would jog with full pack in our army fatigues and boots to Big Water Lake and back to the Timmins Armouries. But I take comfort in this respect, I am far closer to my God and have experienced His faithfulness in a greater measure as I age. So physically we decline, but spiritually we grow stronger.
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