A verse from a master as I approach my 63rd birthday

With thanks to another master, Frederick Buechner, for 38 years of inspiration,

That time of year thou mayst in me behold

When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang

Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,

Bare ruined choirs where late the sweet birds sang.

 

                                                         -William Shakespeare

First Thoughts on My Fifty-eighth Birthday

The years between fifty and seventy are the hardest. You are always being asked to do things, and yet you are not decrepit enough to turn them down. - T.S. Eliot 

It is not by muscle, speed or physical dexterity that great things are achieved, but by reflection, force of character, and judgment; in these qualities old age is usually not only not poorer, but is even richer.  - Cicero  

A wise professor of mine in divinity school, Paul L. Holmer, said in response to my perpetual questions whether he had read this new book or new article or new theory: "For every new book published, I go back and read two old ones." I didn't understand him at the time; I do now. 

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. - Psalm 90:12