There would be hardly one person, even among the
unbelievers, who would not have experienced a mysterious phenomenon at least
once in his life — like a prophetic dream, or an inexplicable event, where his
life was preserved. But more often than not, people don’t look back and
therefore forget, or even try not to notice it. Many of us, when we are close
to the end of our earthly span, can and must exclaim about ourselves in the
words of the Psalmist:
" For You are my hope, O Lord God; You are my trust from my
youth. By You I have been upheld from birth; You are
He who took me out of my mother’s womb. My praise shall be continually of You…O God, You have taught me from my youth; and to this day
I declare Your wondrous works. Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, do
not forsake me, until I declare Your strength to this
generation, Your power to everyone who is to come. Also your righteousness, O
God, is very high, You have done great things; O God,
who is like You? You, who have shown me great and severe troubles, shall revive
me again, and bring me up again from the depths of the earth. You shall
increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side" (Psalm 71).
Observation of one’s life is one of the reasons
why people, indifferent to religion in their youth, but having personally
experienced along the way the power of God’s right hand, grow to become deeply
and genuinely religious in their old age. Whereas before they were unfeeling,
they now become pious, God-fearing, prayerful. Piety
is not an indication of old age. It is present in people of all ages, and its
fervour is naturally greater in younger years. Yet "piety of old age"
is an indication of the not lost, not neglected life’s experience — a sign of
remembrance of the manifestations of God’s mercy.
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