They say that I am growing old;

I’ve heard them tell it times untold,

In language plain and bold—

But I’m not growing old.

This frail shell in which I dwell

Is growing old, I know full well—

But I am not the shell.

What if my hair is turning gray?

Gray hairs are honorable, they say.

What if my eyesight’s growing dim?

I still can see to follow Him

Who sacrificed His life for me

Upon the cross of Calvary.

What should I care if time’s old plow

Has left its furrows on my brow?

Another house, not made with hand,

Awaits me in the Glory Land.

What though I falter in my walk?

What though my tongue refuse to talk?

I still can tread the narrow way,

I still can watch and praise and pray.

My hearing may not be as keen

As in the past it may have been,

Still, I can hear my Saviour say,

In whispers soft, “This is the way.”

The outward man, do what I can

To lengthen out this life’s short span,

Shall perish, and return to dust,

As everything in nature must.

The inward man, the Scriptures say,

Is growing stronger every day.

Then how can I be growing old

When safe within my Saviour’s fold?

Ere long my soul shall fly away

And leave this tenement of clay;

This robe of flesh I’ll drop, and rise

To seize the “everlasting prize.”

I’ll meet you on the streets of gold,

And prove that I’m not growing old.

—John E. Roberts

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