Nine Decades

She lived a little over nine decades. She enjoyed marriage to her soul mate for five decades. After he died she endured two more decades without him. Those were difficult years. Lonely years. Soul wrenching agonizing years. Especially the first three years. Life consisted of trips to the post office, grocery store and her church. She did not read nor watch television. She did work in the yard. Most days were spent alone. Most days were endured in grieving.

Her husband was her best friend. She remained married longer than I have been alive. For five decades they enjoyed birthday celebrations, holidays, and anniversaries. There were days filled with laughter and difficult days after the doctor diagnosed him with lung cancer. He fought bravely but in the end, like so many others, cancer eventually won and he lost the battle.

So began the journey of two decades without her best friend. So began two long decades with a broken heart, tears in her eyes and a hole in her soul. She pressed on bravely. Eventually she moved into an assisted living facility close to her only daughter where she lived for the last fifteen years.

She was quiet. What did she experienced in nine decades. Pearl Harbor, WW II, the assassination of JFK, Vietnam, inflation, the energy crisis, Watergate, Desert Storm, 911, the War on Terror and countless other trials. For nine decades she pressed ahead.

She survived the death of her parents and three brothers in addition to her husband. Her nine decades were not always easy. She endured her pain privately telling few except the Lord. She remained private most of her life. She suffered silently.

Few people expect to live to be 93. I think I read recently the average life span for a man in the U.S. is around 77 and a little longer for women. To live an additional 16 years past that brings joys and sorrows. Part of the sorrow is when you begin outliving so many people you loved. Parents. Siblings, Spouses. Friends. Even pastors. New pastors arrive on the scene who never knew the elderly in their prime years. At times the aging and ailing can fall through the cracks.

For such people here is still hope. Psalm 71:18 (NASB) 
¹⁸  And even when I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me, Until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to all who are to come. 

The word forsake in that verse means to fail and abandon. Even though she endured two decades without her husband she was never alone. God did not abandon her in her grief. Not even for one minute of those last two decades of her life. 

All around me I see people I love growing older and grayer. I know God will not forsake them in their twilight years. Even if the last for nine decades.