A vlogger recently asked 100 different people to say their age on camera, starting with 1-year-old babies and ending with 98, 99, and 100-year-olds. It’s kind of like watching 100 years pass in the course of 3 minutes.

The common phrase used in ancient times was momento mori: remember that you will die. Respect for the elderly came not just from their wisdom, but because they had lived long enough to earn it. In our modern world, our relationship with age is complicated.

Today, we tend to focus on youth. Americans spend billions annually to try and keep it. Scripture helps us live with both the certainty of death and the value of life by bringing in an additional dynamic. 

This is how the Psalmist put it:

The godly will flourish like palm trees

    and grow strong like the cedars of Lebanon.

For they are transplanted to the Lord’s own house.

    They flourish in the courts of our God.

Even in old age, they will still produce fruit;

    they will remain vital and green.