This past May I celebrated another birthday, and one of the things that I’ve noticed as I enter middle age is that gray hairs are encroaching upon my head. I try not to notice it too much, but it’s hard not to when Thea my daughter has made it a hobby to count them! When I look in the mirror and see a glistening silver strand, I am tempted to pluck it out. But then I’m reminded of Proverbs 16:31: “Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained by a righteous life.”
In a culture that worships youth, it can be hard to embrace our growing maturity in terms of chronological years. And there is nothing virtuous about growing old in and of itself. As my father-in-law frequently says, “Growing old is not for sissies!” But this proverb reminds us that there is no shame in growing old either, especially when it is accompanied by the wisdom of God.
In his book, The Book of Wisecracks: Windows of Wisdom for Living Well, Gerald Mann reflects on that proverb and contends that gray hair can be a crown of glory . . . if it comes from outliving our sins and flaws. He argues: Hair does not turn gray. It turns clear! The Bible tells us that God knows each of our sins. It also tells us that He has counted our every hair. He knows the number of both. Every time I look at my hoary head in the mirror, I don’t think of my mortality. I think of my morality. Every “clear” hair represents a cleared offense. It is a sign that God “clears” our record, whenever we ask Him to.
Mann then writes this poem about his gray hairs:
When I look at my reflection,
it says, “You’re really getting old!
Your chest has fled to your midsection.
Your hair is silver instead of gold.”
But I reject mirror’s knell of my mortality.
My belly stands for eating well,
and my hair—morality.
No! I haven’t reached the goodness
For which I long have striven,
But every thread in my hoary head
Represents a sin forgiven.
Some of you reading this column are young and don’t have any gray hairs. But they will come! Mann’s reflection reminds us all that there is grace in gray hairs. They can be reminders of God’s continuing work of forgiveness in our lives, if we will only allow it to “take root” and cleanse us “as white as snow.” So Thea, keep counting those gray hairs!
Yours in Christ, Michael
