Stay Golden

Not too long ago, my wife was watching old reruns of “The Golden Girls.” At some point, curiosity got the best of me, and I asked a question I probably should have left alone: “How old are the ladies supposed to be in the show?” A quick Google search later, my wife delivered the news. Rue McClanahan’s character, Blanche Devereaux, was supposed to be around 51 years old in the first season. Fifty-one! That’s only seven years away from where I am now. And suddenly I realized that television in the 1980s had a very different definition of “middle-aged” or “golden years” than we do today.

It was funny—but it also got me thinking. So much of life is about the stories we tell ourselves about age, usefulness, and “the right time.” We’re surrounded by unspoken timelines: when you’re supposed to have things figured out, when you’re supposed to slow down, when your best days are supposedly behind you. Sometimes we laugh at those ideas… and sometimes we quietly believe them.

The Bible, however, tells a very different story. Moses was about 80 years old when God called him from a burning bush. Sarah laughed when she heard she would become a mother late in life—and then discovered God still had plans for her. Anna, an elderly widow, spent her days worshiping in the temple and was among the first to recognize the Messiah. And the psalmist boldly proclaims, “The righteous still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green” (Psalm 92:14).

Scripture consistently reminds us that God is not bound by our cultural expectations or our personal timelines. God doesn’t look at a birth certificate and say, “Well, that season has passed.” Instead, God looks at the heart, the willingness, and the openness to be used. Whether you’re 15, 51, or 91, God is still at work—still calling, still shaping, still inviting us into lives of purpose and love.

So no matter what decade you were born in—or how old the TV shows of your childhood say you should look—God isn’t finished with you yet.

May God hold you,
Rev Chris Hester