Seven weeks ago I was able to complete the notoriously tough 50k Pick Your Poison Trail Race for the 7th consecutive time. Although the course stays always the same, it seems that every year the race gets harder to complete. This year’s race I ended up as the 3rd last finisher out of 99 starters. Though 12 runners did drop out and failed to finish. Even though this year I was struggling and really wanted to bail, several great people believed in me that I could finish this.

It is a reality that I am getting older. I’ll be turning 66 in less than a months time. Like a lot of people my age, I have wrinkles, greying hair, veins that are becoming much more visible and age spots. My running pace is much slower than it was when I started to run 11 years ago. Our bodies are wearing down. In Second Corinthians 4:7, it mentions we as humans are “jars of clay”. In other words we are made of just dirt. Genesis 2:7 reads, “Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being”. And then in Genesis 3:19 it says when we die we will return to the same earth we were taken from.

While doing some research, I learned that scientifically our bodies are made up of just 20 elements. Interesting all of which are found in the earths’ crust. Oxygen, carbon and hydrogen make up over 90% of our bodies structure. There is also nitrogen, calcium, phosphorous, potassium, sulfur, sodium, chlorine, and magnesium which bring it up to 99%. The other 1% consist of iron, fluorine, zinc, strontium, iodine, copper, manganese and molybdenum. Only a divine creator could take these 20 elements and with just the right measurements make a living being.

Some sources mention our bodies consist of as little as 62% water. While other sources say up to 75%. Perhaps maybe depending on our hydration level and the amount stored in our bladder. Water (or H2O) is made up of 11.11% hydrogen and 88.89% oxygen. If you lack energy or are in a mental fog, it might be you just need to drink more water. Something I personally have to be mindful of. All those important parched cells will then become recharged. Sadly, dehydration is one of the top ten reasons seniors end up being hospitalized. Eating a healthy, balanced diet will ensure we are receiving adequate amounts of all those other important elements. The Psalmist David said it so well when he wrote in Psalm 139:14, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well”

God has made us and has given us so much to enjoy. As the ancient writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us, “God has made everything beautiful for its own time” (3:11). Beauty is absorbed through the senses our Creator gave us, and it can be found just about anywhere. We can see it in a sunset or in a fresh blanket of snow. We can hear it while listening to a favorite work of music or feel it in the soft, furry coat of a pet. Our hearts can sense it in the kind words of a friend. We can smell it in the aroma of a freshly brewed pot of coffee.

We are incredibly made and wonderfully blessed. Yet as this jar of we live in is wearing down, God shares some amazing news. There is a treasure inside this jar of clay which we call our body. Described in 2 Corinthians 4:7 NIV, it reads, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us”. The website Bible Archeology talks about how people in the Greco-Roman world used to store coin hoards in clay jars and then they were buried for safe keeping. Often in times of warfare or instability. The size of these hoards can range from fifty to fifty thousand coins. Thousands of such hoards have been discovered by archaeologists and treasure hunters over the years.

It would be cool to find a treasure like that. But remember, the greatest treasure is inside each one of us as Christians. In Matthew 6:19-21, Jesus says “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

As we continue to age, our bodies will continue to wear down on the outside and within our organs. Then there is also muscle atrophy and bone loss. We are flawed. Life has broken us down throughout the years; but the beautiful part of this is the fact that we can still be a vessel for the Holy Spirit. The treasure is not diminished by the flaws of the clay jar. Second Corinthians 4:16-18 reads, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”