When You are Old, You Will Stretch Out Your Hands

When I was young I thought that adulthood was about making your own decisions.

And, I suppose, at some level, it is.

But somehow the last recorded words of Jesus to Peter seem more and more apropos with age. "I tell you the truth," Jesus told Peter, "when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go... Follow me."

Somehow Christ's words encapsulate my current finding that mature adulthood seems more about surrender and less about individual design. We surrender to the needs of those around us, often going where we do not wish to go, and in doing so follow Christ.

You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, "He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him."

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved. (Hebrews 10:35)