This is the birthday of Ponce de Leon (1460). He’s the Spanish explorer who spent much of his life searching for the Fountain of Youth.

Forever, it seems, people have wanted to stay young, even back in the fourteen and fifteen hundreds. And people today are still looking for a “fountain of youth”—skin treatments, vitamins, and special diets—anything that can help them live better and longer.

They want to look young and feel young and to slow down the aging process. That’s because old age can be a pain. Joints and muscles ache, sicknesses hit, much is spent on prescriptions and doctors, and death moves closer. In today’s verse, Solomon wrote that many old people “no longer enjoy living.” One version of this verse (The Living Bible) translates old age as “the evil years.”

When we’re young, we have energy, and life is fun and exciting. So exciting, says Solomon, that we can forget about God. We can get so involved in playing games, spending time with friends, going to parties, eating, laughing, and enjoying our youth that we feel no need for our Creator.

But life passes quickly, and, before we know it, we’re much older, and we join the search for that fountain of youth.

Actually, a young person without God can become a bitter old person. Maybe you know someone like that—always complaining and griping, always feeling bad, joyless, and sad. But a young person with God can become a grateful and gracious old person, someone who has spent a lifetime serving the Lord and can look back with no regrets. Maybe you know someone like that: a grandparent, a neighbor, or someone at church.

Which kind of person do you want to become? It’s your choice.

Don’t let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator. Honor him in your youth before you grow old and no longer enjoy living (Ecclesiastes 12:1).

To Do

Talk to one or more elderly people who seem to be joyful. Ask them the secret of their happiness and how they came to faith in Christ.

Also on this day . . .

1893—The Critic reported that the ice cream soda was the national drink of the U.S.

1974—Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves hit homerun 715, surpassing Babe Ruth’s record 714.

From Betsy Schmitt and Dave Veerman, 365 Trivia Twist Devotions: An Almanac of Fun Facts and Spiritual Truth for Every Day of the Year (Cincinnati: Standard, 2005). Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation unless otherwise noted.