20170808: Ps 90 'When You Are Old' - William Butler Yeats & Karen Mok : In memory of the passing of Pastor Michael RW

Ps90:10 "The length of our years is 70 years, or 80, if we have the strength, yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away"

On 27/7/17, I lost a missionary pastor whom many loved.  Interestingly, I managed to made an impromptu visit when he was in hospital on 24/7/17 Monday morning as I happened to accompany my SIL to her doc review at the same hospital.  I was initially unsure if Michael was still in the same hospital and so I took a chance to check at the registration counter.  Well, managed to see him and his wife E then for a quick few minutes.  But 3 days later, he passed away to be Home with the Lord.

Michael was 71.  As per Psalms - that was a good old age.  He was one of my first 2 encouragers who penned in this blog when I first started in Jan 2010.  My migration from physical yearly journals to the cloud. And he was also my e- prayer.

There is a Chinese saying that says that man is born to die - either by old age or in sickness. For Michael, perhaps it was a combination of both - ripe age plus cancer.  He had gone back to UK in the last couple of years upon retirement.  But his heart had always been in Asia which perhaps explained his sudden hospitalisation here after he came back for some ministry sharing.  And the Lord took him home from here instead.  He will be greatly missed by many for sure as he had always been a jolly o English fellow! Man of humour and faith!

Some Reflections
My good old church friend, M,  who is now 92 recently shared this with me. "Growing old gracefully is not quite true.  In fact when one ages, the knees no longer hold but give one pain.  The wrinkles on the face is definitely not one of grace to behold"  

There is a kind of truth to the above.  Perhaps spiritually we are told to grow in grace in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  However, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. There are many things we cannot do physically as we age.

 Ps 90:5-6 says that men are like the new grass of the morning, though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered.  V10  our life span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass and we fly away.

William B Yeats was an Irish poet - one of his famous poems he wrote ( when he was about 27 , some 120 years ago) was called "When we are old" was used as a Chinese song few years back and popularised by the HK singer Karen Mok.  It was his penning of the imaginary loved one when she got older.  

Here are the words of this poet and the song sang in the video.  Rather heart warming.

When you are old and grey and full of sleep, 

And nodding by the fire, take down this book,

And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep……

(当你老了 头发白了

睡意昏沉

当你老了 走不动了

炉火旁打盹 回忆青春)

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When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

Final Reflection

Indeed as we age in this pilgrimage on earth, may we remember Ps90. The Lord has been and will be our dwelling place throughout all generations.  Like Yeats had penned 120 years ago.  Nothing had changed much isn't it? The Creator God still turn men back to dust.  It is a 100% fact and probability that all men got to die somehow.  But our times are in His hand.

But prayerfully and hopefully, even as our flesh may give way , that we will always remember our Creator God in the moments of our life.  Be prepared to part from this earth anytime.  Our prayer should always be "Teach us to number our days aright that we may gain a heart of wisdom" Ps90:11

Let us love our Lord with all our heart , soul, mind and strength !

And remember that the Lord "loved the pilgrim soul in us, and loved the sorrows of our changing face" (Ps73:26) Men may forsake us for external beauty or changing circumstances, but not our Lord. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life.  Only knowing Him will we be assured of the Heavenly Home prepared for us.