Note to my readers: I wrote this devotional for the Chancel Choir at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Venice, FL and presented it on January 5, 2003. I thought I might share it with you at the beginning of 2006. May God richly bless you in this New Year. - The Old Professor

For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night. You sweep them away; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning; in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers. Psalms 90:4-6

Those of us who have reached the age of retirement are painfully aware of how quickly the years have passed. We began our lives full of strength and with bright visions and great hopes for the future. Now as we enter the evening of life, our strength is diminished, and the passing years often do seem like a dream.

It would be so easy to give up, fold our tents, and steal off into the night. But, there will be time enough for rest when the night comes, and we leave this vale of tears. As for now, there is still much to be done.

We have unfinished tasks that require our attention. We have family and friends with whom we need to share some of the wisdom that we have accumulated over the years. As a matter of fact, we ourselves still have a great deal to learn. For example, we have new music to learn. Oh, the old songs are wonderful, and we love to sing them over and over. But all those songs were new to us at one time. If we had not learned them, we would be stuck with singing only one song over and over and over.

Not only are there new songs to learn, but new styles of music form the basis of these new songs. The composers who write the music and the poets who write the texts are both teaching us new concepts that help us enlarge our understanding of God and of this wonderful world where we live.

In the middle of the Eighteenth Century when Isaac Watts was a young man, church music was in a rather sorry state. At the urging of his pastor father, he wrote many new hymns that revolutionized congregational singing. One of those hymns was based on the Psalm 90 text. It was entitled, “O God Our Help in Ages Past.” One of the verses is, “Time, like an ever-rolling stream, soon bears us all away. We fly forgotten, as a dream dies at the opening day.”

But that is not the end of the hymn. The last verse is: “O God our help in ages past, our hope for years to come, be thou are guard while troubles last, and our eternal home.” When we examine our lives, we realize how little we have accomplished. It seems like we spent much more time solving little problems than creating new worlds. However, we never know how those little accomplishments might impact future generations. I suspect that Isaac Watt would be surprised to learn that people in the twenty-first century are still singing his hymns. More important than accomplishing great feats is remaining faithful to our calling even as God has remained faithful to us. He will guard us while troubles last and he will be our eternal home.

Prayer: O God our help in ages past and our hope for years to come, we thank you for keeping us in your loving care. As we look to the future, set us to the tasks that you would have us fulfill. Give us a new song in our hearts that we might enter your kingdom joyfully and sing your praises with a gladsome voice. At the last, bring us to you, our eternal home. Amen.