OUT TO PASTOR: How to act your age

I just celebrated another birthday.

Every time I turn around, I have another birthday. I guess I’m going to have to stop turning around.

This year, I turned 73, which is a landmark as far as I’m concerned.

After celebrating my birthday, The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage asked, “Do you think you’ll be able to act your age this year?”

I just smiled because I didn’t know what she was saying. How do you act your age when it changes all the time? It’s hard to realize how old I am because my age changes every year. Just when I think I have it all under control, I have another birthday.

I remember my teenage years. It’s easy to act your age when you’re a teenager because you can do whatever you want.

When I turned 16, I got my driver’s license, and I was rather excited to drive.

One evening, I asked my father, “Dad can I borrow your car for tonight?”

With a big smile, he said, “Yes, you can.”

He gave me the car keys, and just as I went out the door to get into the car, he said, “Oh, by the way, there’s no gas in the car, you’ll have to go and get it filled up at the gas station.”

He looked at me and smiled – and I knew exactly what he was doing.

I could drive the car, but there was a cost to driving the car.

Then, when I was 21, I became a full-fledged adult. I’m not sure what that means, but I had arrived, or so I thought. I was now in charge of my life, and I was so happy about it. Nobody was ever going to tell me what to do.

I carried this attitude around for quite a while until I realized that being an adult has a price tag to it.

All through my life, I have been trying to act my age at every level. It’s been hard, but I have been trying as best I can. It seems I’m not a very good actor.

The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage’s birthday is two days after mine. I arranged it that way on purpose so that I would always remember her birthday.

We were both celebrating our 70th birthdays and went out for supper. We made our order and then after we finished our order we had a piece of cake brought out.

Looking across the table, The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage said, “Well, my dear, how does it feel to be old?”

I reached across the table, grabbed her arm, and began to squeeze it. Looking at her, I said, “It feels rather good.”

Her voice had a very sarcastic tone; she said, “Are you ever going to act your age?”

At my age it doesn’t matter. I’m wondering if there’s some kind of thespian school that teaches acting your age? I should take some of these classes for sure.

My problem is that when I turned 73, it was the first time I had done so. I have no idea how I should act at 73. I went to a bookstore the other day to look through the books, trying to find some book that would help me act 73. I found none.

I was tempted to write a book on that subject, but as I meditated on it for a while, I realized that by the time I finished writing a book called “Acting Your Age at 73,” I would have another birthday and be 74. What’s a geezer to do?

The other day, somebody asked me how old I was. I told them that I had just turned 73, and they looked at me, smiled, and said, “You sure don’t look that old.”

I smiled and then walked away. Later, I began thinking about what that person said. If I’m correct, he was insinuating that I was entering my second childhood. Oh boy. My first childhood didn’t turn out very well, and I don’t know how my second childhood will turn out.

A lot of people are infatuated with birthdays. I don’t know how many restaurants I’ve been at when there were birthday celebrations. Everybody was singing Happy Birthday. And I usually joined in on the celebration because sometimes I’ve gotten a slice of birthday cake. That’s how you act your age.

As I was thinking about my second childhood, I wondered if maybe I could do a lot better this next time. In my first childhood, it went so fast that I really couldn’t keep up with anything. By the time I had caught up, I was retired.

Being retired gives you many opportunities to rehearse acting your age. I don’t always get it, and I stumbled on the script, but I’m trying. When I stumble on the script, I can blame it on getting old and my memory failing.

It is very difficult to act my age. Now that I’m 73, I have moments when I want to act like I was 37 or even 25. The problem is that I didn’t have enough practice being 37 or even 25.

In thinking about this I was reminded of what David said. “Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come” (Psalm 71:18).

Dr. James L. Snyder lives in Ocala, FL with the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage. Telephone is (352) 216-3025, e-mail is jamessnyder51@gmail.com, and website is www.jamessnyderministries.com