Letter to the Editor: Ways to keep yourself young despite the challenges

Waking up the other morning, I thought of miraculously becoming young. Of course, it can’t happen.

I’m still the same old codger and ancient-looking grizzled geezer. The Fountain of Youth eludes me. But there are ways to partially rejuvenate oneself.

Think of how the illustrious Tom Brady expanded his athleticism beyond normally recognized limits. Science keeps finding ways to extend people’s lives and prevent various types of dementia. The number of centenarians in the United States now total over 80,000.

The challenge is to get old gradually and, when possible, productively. Your life force or intangible spirit can actually grow if you commit yourself to this and still have most of your mental faculties. With the right care of your thoughts, words, and behavior, you can produce fruits of the spirit (see Bible, Gal. 5:22). Other spiritually enlarging qualities are forgiveness, treating everyone equitably, generosity, and hospitable.

But beyond that, you need to ban bad tendencies from your character with self-discipline, your conscience, prayer and appropriate religious guidelines. For Christians, this means establishing a faith-based relationship with God through Jesus Christ and the Bible.

Neal Wallace
Quinton