anticipation

"The old sorrow,

through the great mystery of human life,

passes gradually into quiet, tender joy;

the fiery blood of youth

 gives way

 to the gentle serenity of old age.

I bless the rising sun each day,

and my heart sings to it as of old,

but now I love its setting even more,

its long, slanting rays

and the quiet, gentle, tender memories

 that come with them;

the dear images

 from the whole of my long and blessed life....

and over it all divine Truth,

tender, reconciling, and all forgiving!

My life is drawing to a close.

I know that.

I feel it.

But I also feel every day that is left to me 

how my earthly life is already in tune with a new,

 infinite,

 unknown 

but fast approaching future life,

 the anticipation of which 

sets my soul trembling with rapture,

 my mind glowing, 

and my heart weeping with joy......."

Dostoyevski

The Bothers Karamazov

I have never read more beautiful words than these

concerning getting old and dying 

and the future life that awaits us in Christ.