Tents

The apostle Paul tells us that we are in 'earthly tents' and as long as we are here in our tents, we 'groan and are burdened'. Tents are very temporary shelters and those who use theirs a lot find that they wear out quickly and soon leak, fall apart, will not stand upright, and will begin to smell bad. This is a great picture of our bodies which are also only temporary shelters. When our short lifetimes are viewed in an eternal perspective, we realise just how short our stay in our 'tent' really is.
Yesterday's post was about our (my) tents showing signs of age. If you take the time to do a little calculation, as did I, you may find something interesting. Divide the 'symptoms' you have by the total number systems. That will tell you what percentage of these symptoms you have. Now divide your age by 103 which will give you the percentage of the old man's age that you are. How closely do the two figures match? I was amazed that my two percentages matched perfectly, and to two decimal points! Unbelievable!! I can assume from this, that barring a drive by shooting or being hit by a big bus, I will live to 103 ...... but will own every one of those symptoms. :-) It is like camping in a tent. Great for the first few days, fun and novel, but it wears thin after a while and you just want to get out of the tent.