Billy Graham - Advice on Getting Older

What advice would you give to people who are aging?

First, accept it as part of God's plan for your life, and thank him every day for the gift of that day.

Old age can be a lonely time ... children scattered, spouse and friends gone ... but God has a reason for keeping us here (even if we don't always understand it), and we need to recover the Bible's understanding of life and longevity as gifts from God—and therefore as something good. Several times the Bible mentions people who died "at a good old age"...

So part of my advice is to learn to be content, and that only comes as we accept each day as a gift from God and commit it into his hands.

- Billy Graham, Christianity Today interview January 2011
^{(Read the whole article here)}

Giving and Receiving Advice

"Listen, my son, accept what I say, and the years of your life will be many." - Solomon (Proverbs 4:10)

Every good father wants his children to be successful.

Though Solomon's sons did not heed his advice, God used that fatherly desire and those fatherly words to give wisdom to the sons of God (both men and women) throughout the centuries.

As a father it can be discouraging when one's children care little for your advice - but we continue, knowing God can use it for his glory and for the benefit of his children. And just because one's children don't listen now doesn't mean they won't listen later.

- fritz