I found myself in the last few months becoming quite worrried about my "old age". As I have been reading through Isaiah these verses were particularly comforting, and I undertook to memorize them.

Isaiah 46:3-4

"You whom I have upheld since you were conceived,

and have carried since your birth.
Even to your old age and gray hairs

I am he, I am he who will sustain you.

I have made you and I will carry you;

I will sustain you and I will rescue you."

I wanted to go deeper into the passage and understand it more fully. Recently I have been reading a poetry writing book for young people with the intention of using some of the ideas in my journal classes. One suggestion was for a synonym poem. With that idea in mind I went to an online thesaurus and looked up "sustain". There were many synonyms (30+) and I wrote them all down in my journal. Then I went alphabetically through the list and made 2 line poems. The suggestion was to use 3 to 4 synonyms in the first line and then a rhyming line for the second verse. I used the aid of an online rhyming dictionary for the second verse. The poems are simple and I do not pretend in any way to be a master wordsmith but the process made it possible to continue to think about the idea of God sustaining me through "old age and grey hairs" and began to change a heart of anxiety to one of hope and trust in God's promise. Here is a sampling of the verses:

Aid, Assist, Abide

I will ever be by your side.

Bolster, Brace, Bear

My Word has promised that I will care.

Continue, Carry, Comfort, Confirm

My Word, my love, I have affirmed.

Keep alive, Keep up, Keep going

Your love for me is everflowing.

I found that the process of working through the words using poetry and then writing them in my journal with color and calligraphy allowed time to ponder and contemplate the ideas to a depth not possible when I just read over the text. It seeps into my life in a fuller and richer way.