daily java

Daily Java:

Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained by a righteous life. (Proverbs 16:30-32)

We have been in Nebraska for almost a year but have never gotten around to getting our drivers’ licenses. No real reason, just that we never got around to it.

Today, we fortified ourselves and went. I combed my hair, Ella spent one entire hour putting on make-up and trying to figure out what to wear. It is just a driver’s license. No, I will have to look at it for a long time.

I guess so. In my case, big fat deal. I look like me and don’t take that good a picture anyway. She does, so she works at it.

I could spend a couple of hours at the make-up booth at Clinique in the mall and a long time at Mastercuts and still look like I do. Besides, people would wonder why I was wearing make-up. I am having my picture made, I would say. Oh, for a professional portrait? No. The DMV. I have to look at it for a long time, you know. They would stop, look at me and say lovingly, get away, please.

So we went in. There were sheets to fill out beforehand, so all of your information could be conveniently re-asked. Age – check. Weight – uh, waffle, waffle. Eyes – hazel. Color hair – ?. I asked my wife, what color is my hair. She said gray.

Gray. I used to have this great dark brown, almost auburn in highlights, afro. When it was longer, it was thick and curly. And my beard was black/brown shot with red. It looked great. For a while, people would use Grizzly Adams in describing me.

But now gray.

Gray.

Omar Khayyám, in a book he called the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (rubaiyat was a Persian word for quatrains) (sonnets of four lines each) (like you care) wrote:

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.

He also wrote:

Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring
Your Winter-garment of Repentance fling:
The Bird of Time has but a little way
To flutter--and the Bird is on the Wing.

The apostle Paul said some of the same things in Romans 13:11-12:

And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

Jesus said in John 9:4:

As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.

In other words, sooner or later you go to the DMV and your hair gets listed as gray.

You just hope it is a crown of splendor. There is nothing worse than old people on TV doing stupid things.

I guess that it will be gray until it is either gone or I am dead.

And BTW,, my son informed us at dinner the other night that we were older people. Thank you, Sam. (Mental note to my lawyer – kick his inheritance down)

I need to work more on the righteous life.