ATTITUDE People grow old only by deserting their ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up interest wrinkles the soul. You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as…
Sermon Illustrations
DIE BEFORE YOU'RE DEAD A little girl one night was saying the familiar bedtime prayer that goes "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep; If I should…
THE LAST MILE You say you are my friend, If truly so, then come and walk with me along my last long mile./The road is straight and has no turning, If weary you become, we…
CHASING A DREAM A few years ago, one of America's leading newspapers did a study on the perils of middle age. It was the story of two men struggling with the recognition that life was…
AGE DISCRIMINATION The cover story on Warren Buffet of Omaha, Nebraska that appeared in the April 11th issue of Fortune magazine, tells the amazing tale of one of our countries most successful billionaires. He has…
A CHILD'S LOGIC A five-year-old girl came home from a funeral of her grandmother, in a car with her other grandmother. "Where did Grandma go?" she asked. "We believe she went to be with God,"…
THE FAUX AND THE REAL Don Harp, pastor of First Un. Methodist Church, Gainesville, GA, did a great memorial sermon at our Annual Conference in 1986. He spoke of the deceased as the "salt of…
THE BEST IS YET TO COME One of the senior members of the church telephoned to say that her doctor had told her that she had a melanoma, and wanted me to come talk with…
AT EVENING TIME I know not what the long years hold Of winter days and summer clime; But this I know: when life grows old It shall be light -- at evening time. I cannot…
COMMUNICATION A young mother had been too busy to visit her elderly neighbor, who was ill. She said to her small son, "Johnny, run over and see how old Mrs. Smith is." Within a few…
RESULT OF NO HOPE The Wolf Magazine of Letters includes this quotation which was written by the noted agnostic Robert G. Ingersoll to his brother: "I feel that we have passed the crown of the…
LONG RANGE PLANS A friend was trying to encourage his elderly mother to enjoy the money she had accumulated through frugal living. "Mother," he said, "you have enough money to last you until you're a…
DO IT NOW Among the paintings of Ivan Albright is the striking painting of an old door. From its design, it must have been at one time the outside door of a fine residence. In…
AN INFUSION OF COURAGE It was late in the evening. At the end of a long, busy day I felt almost too tired to make my last pastoral visit. An elderly lady answered the door.…
REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS When Conrad Adenauer was still chancellor he was approaching the age of ninety and he succumbed to a heavy cold. His personal physician was unable to be of very much help and had…
PRIVACY ABOUT ONE'S AGE Zsa Zsa Gabor was asked which of the Gabors is the oldest, and she replied, "Well, she'd never admit it -- but it's Mama." Adapted from The Little, Brown Book of…
BEATITUDES OF THE AGING Blessed are those who don't deny I'm not a "them," I'm still an "I." Blessed are the ones who see I need a freedom to be me. Blessed are they who…
SENSITIVITY Dame Edith Sitwell (1887-1964) was a British poet and the daughter of Sir George Sitwell. She and her brothers Osbert and Sacheverell were rebels against bourgeois philistinism. Osbert told a story about her sister,…
LIVING WITH ANTICIPATION I used to visit a little old English lady well into her eighth decade who used to preach to me each time I called on her. She had been through a lot,…
A SECOND LOOK An Irishman of age 41 was swept by patriotic fervor and endeavored to enlist in the army. Although the recruiting sergeant saw that this man would make a good soldier, he could…
