By Dr. Benjamin Littlejohn
One of “Fiddler on the Roof’s” most famous songs, “Sunrise, Sunset” takes place during the wedding of Tzeitel (Tevye and Golde’s daughter) and her childhood friend and tailor, Motel.
The first half of the song has Tevye and Golde as they wonder how time flies, while the second part of the song has Tzeitel and Motel wondering about their future:
Tevye says:
Is this the little girl I carried?
Is this the little boy at play?
When did she get to be a beauty?
When did he grow so tall?
Golde says:
I Don’t remember growing older
When did they?
Wasn’t it yesterday when they were so small?
And they said:
Sunrise, Sunset
Sunrise, Sunset
Swiftly flow the days
Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers
Blossoming even as we gaze.
While serving as Intentional Interim Pastor at El Bethel Church in Greer, South Carolina, I always enjoyed preaching my New Year’s Sermons. Last year I told the congregation, “I went to bed last night and when I woke up this morning I was 72 years old: where did time go?”
Has that reality ever hit you?
Are you in the sunset years of your life? Are you shouting for joy as the scripture says? Are you taking time or making the time to smell the roses? Have you ever taken the time to observe just how beautiful sunsets really are? There is something undeniably magical about sunsets; smell the coffee and enjoy the sunset.
Being in the sunset years of life does not mean you are ready to throw in the towel and die. We have plenty of life to live. Personally I do not intend to sit idly by and watch life zip by; Lord willing, I plan to be as active and involved with life as I have always been, maybe more.
A group of 95 year old seniors was asked: If you had to live your life over again, what would you do differently? They all said they would “risk more, reflect more, and give my life to something greater than myself”.
In my sunset years, I am committed to give myself to something greater. There is a quotation I love: “Only one life will soon be past; what is done for Christ will last.”
We’re not supposed to just kick back and wait for the inevitable when we reach our sunset years; we finally have all this wonderful time now. Doing nothing all day will only lead to a nice funeral. Simply said you need to realize that just “accepting your age” can lead to losing the best years of your life. Don’t let yourself become inactive and resigned, you need to live.
God wants you to live out your life in a meaningful way. And the single, most meaningful way to spend the best years of your life is by serving the Lord.
Just because you are retired from your job, you never retire from your spiritual job. You can stay on the front line of the battle, working for the Master. Being here, in this place may actually present you with the time and opportunity to be of greater service than ever before.
We are never too old to serve the Lord, and we can definitely never retire from serving Him. Let me tell you when it comes to work of the kingdom, Not one of us has earned the right to say “I’ve served my time”.
Let’s enjoy life! And thank God that He has given you and me yet another day to enjoy the sunrise…and the sunset.
