THE GOLDEN YEARS

Funk & Wagnalls Dictionary describes Golden Age in Greek and Roman legend, a mythical period when perfect innocence, peace and happiness reigned. It is also applied when describing 'the most flourishing period of a nation's history'.

The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the Works and Days of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages, Gold being the first and the one during which the Golden Race of humanity (Greek: χρύσεον γένος chrýseon génos) lived. Those living in the first Age were ruled by Kronos, after the finish of the first age was the Silver, then the Bronze, after this the Heroic age, with the fifth and current age being Iron.

By extension "Golden Age" denotes a period of primordial peace, harmony, stability and prosperity. During this age peace and harmony prevailed, people did not have to work to feed themselves, for the earth provided food in abundance. They lived to a very old age with a youthful appearance, eventually dying peacefully, with spirits living on as "guardians". Plato in Cratylus (397 e) recounts the golden race of humans who came first. He clarifies that Hesiod did not mean literally made of gold, but good and noble.

It is all very well, however, finding myself in this same age, I ask:

"What can be golden amidst the aches and pains of old age?"

The golden years can be golden years if our relationship with God has been nourished and is strong. We have no choice but to accept what life offers and make the most of it, but we do have a choice in the way we perceive life.

Somewhere along the way in life, people say we enter the golden years. That is supposed to mean years of ease, happiness, contentment and positive expectations.

Let's see what the Bible tells us. The Bible states that life comes to an end at about 70 or 80 years.

"The length of our days is seventy years - or eighty, if we have the strength..."(Psalms 90:10)

It is common knowledge that we live in a time of good health care, plenty of food and sanitary conditions, and we have learned a lot about the human body. Some live to be 100 years old. Generally, those who refer to old age as the golden years have not yet reached old age. Old age brings aches and pains in parts of our body that we never knew existed, it seems. It is a wonderful thing to live a long life, and it is a blessing from God if we do. But for many seniors, life is a challenge and does not seem golden.The Bible refers to old age as the “difficult days” to come.

"Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, 'I find no pleasure in them'."(Ecclesiastes 12:1)

A life without God can produce a bitter, lonely and hopeless old age. A life centered around God is fulfilling; it will make the "days of trouble" - when disabilities, sickness and handicaps causes barriers to enjoying life - satisfying because of the hope of eternal life. Being young is exciting. But the excitement of youth can become a barrier to closeness with God if it makes young people focus on passing pleasures instead of eternal values. The following verses in this chapter of Ecclesiastes symbolises the fragility of life. How easy death comes to us; how swiftly and unexpectedly we can return to the dust from which we came. therefore, we should recognise life as a precious resource to be used wisely and not wasted frivolously. Days in which we find little to be happy about, we grow nervous and fearful, our eyesight grows dim, we wake at the slightest sound (or our hearing fails), music and dancing lose their pleasure, little things get too heavy to lift or carry, desire fails and we are staring at the fact that our body is growing weaker and is reaching the end of life. Eternity stretches before us.We know we are made of dust and will return to dust. The golden years can be golden years if our relationship with God has been nourished and is strong. We have no choice but to accept what life offers and make the most of it, but we do have a choice in the way we perceive life. We can be thankful for each day when each day is filled with the hope of a different and better future.

“Golden” has a different meaning.