Sunset hours

They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing. — Psalm 92:14

If you are still young and energetic, you may find it difficult to sympathize with the feelings that afflict many older people. But those who have passed the midpoint on life’s journey and have begun to descend the westering slope can appreciate what David said, “I have been young, and now am old” (Ps. 37:25). And because aging often brings with it pain and loss, there may be those who vainly wish that their summertime days would never end.

But listen to Christian essayist and theologian F. W. Boreham: “Someday my life’s little day will soften down to eventide. My sunset hours will come . . . And then, I know there will arise, out of the dusk, a dawning fairer than any dawn that has yet broken upon me. Out of the last tints of sunset there shall rise a day such as I shall never have known before; a day that shall restore to me all that the other days have taken from me, a day that shall never fade into twilight.”

So no matter where we are on the heavenward pilgrimage, if we are walking with Jesus we can rejoice. And since we know that our faithful Father will abide with us till our journey on earth is over, we can actually be thankful for the lengthening shadows and the setting sun. — Vernon Grounds

Beyond the sunset, O blissful morning,

When with our Savior heaven is begun;

Earth’s toiling ended, O glorious dawning,

Beyond the sunset, when day is done. — Brock

READ: Philippians 3:20—4:1

To live is Christ; to die is gain. — The apostle Paul

The Bible in one year:

• Isaiah 28-29

• Philippians 3