50 or Something

You know you are 50 when:

You get the membership invitation to the AARP.  Funny acronym, the AARP, it’s like something a dog would say – “aarp, aarp” or a seal maybe, and it also looks and sounds  like the word harp, which is mentioned numerous times in the bible and certainly connects to aging and death.

Psalms 108:2

Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn. (NIV) Awake psaltery and harpe: I my selfe will awake early. (KJV (1611))

I rather prefer the King James version which may have been the first recorded instance of the world selfie.  That aside, and even though the context here is giving praise to God, the fact is that King David, the author of this particular passage, references the act of getting up early, which is something I can’t help but do each morning.  5:15 a.m. on weekdays and 6:00 a.m. on weekends, without fail, my internal alarm strums softly not unlike the harp, or the smaller psaltery, two stringed instruments I do not own.  When I was younger, I could sleep the whole day away in a state of hibernation, but in my advanced age, I’m lucky if I get 6 hours.

And speaking of harps, there is this nugget:

Revelation 14:2

And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps.

This is what it’s like when I have to get up earlier than 5:00 a.m. and my alarm goes off. Although when I can’t find the alarm, it’s as if the harpers are thunderously harping on their harpes.