Character Comes with Age

Fountain Valley Regional Park, Fountain, Colorado

We become gnarly with age.

This cottonwood tree at Fountain Valley Regional Park has seen a great deal of history pass over its roots. It has weathered many snow storms, droughts and floods.  It has been shaped and formed both by its DNA and the conditions of life.  

I'm sure this old cottonwood looked more pristine at  a younger age. It was probably straighter, slimmer and more symmetrical, but age has changed this tree. Its character has been shaped by age..

"The glory of the young is their strength; the gray hair of experience is the splendor of the old." Proverbs 20:29 New Living Translation

Like this old cottonwood, we become gnarly with age. Our bodies become gnarly. Our thoughts become gnarly. Our emotions become gnarly. Our DNA and experiences of life shape our character, yet Solomon did not see aging as negative but writes that "the gray hair of experience is the splendor of the old."

We might become more gnarly with age, but aging doesn't change the power of God's love for us in Christ. His mercy transforms the young, the old and the 'tweens.

God's love is as active in those whose bones creak as it is in those whose bones are still forming. No matter our stage of life, God shapes our character as we age. And the greatest influence on this character is his grace.

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(Click on picture to enlarge.)

Text and Photographs ©Copyright 2013 Douglas P. Brauner.  ARR.