Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

• Luke 18:16-17

The New Boilerplate

My wife filled a small book with “Angel” on the cover.  It was hidden with a box of crafting things.  On 18 July 2025, I thought I had posted the last of these.  But this little angel book held a prayer, followed by 71 quotes.  So, the “with a little help” series is back in business for a while.  And it will be fun for me.  She did not attribute any of the quotes.  The first, next week’s installment, is from James A. Garfield, the 20^th president of the USA.  The next one is disputed, with some thinking it originated with Teddy Roosevelt and others saying Fred Astaire.  After the prayer, these might be on the lighter side.

Her quote

“Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it, you’ve got to start young.”

• Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (1858-1919), 26^th president of the United States of America
• Fred Astaire (1899-1987)

The Discussion

The Scripture talks of accepting God with wide-eyed excitement and total abandon, like a child who absorbs everything the child hears and sees when they are young.  The quotes hint that to be successful when old, you literally must be young when you start.

I cannot remember who said it, but someone quipped that they asked a nurse to forgive their mistakes.  This was the first time they had ever been old, so they were making rookie mistakes, besides, getting old does not come with instructions.

Some sometimes I chuckle at the youngsters out there.  I could explain before they screw up, but they would not listen anyway.  I could say that I told you so, but they would just get angry at me instead of getting angry at their own stupid mistake.  Sometimes you just have the screw up to find out that you are not perfect either.

They have attributed Mark Twain with talking about how after living away from home for many years that his father had grown in wisdom while he was gone.  I know from firsthand experience that sometimes that never happens.  And I have seen entire articles argue that Mark Twain never wrote that quote.

Which leads me to who wrote this one?  Teddy Roosevelt was around first, but there was twenty years of overlap.  Yet, how could Fred Astaire make a quote about being good at being old when he was roughly twenty years old when Teddy Roosevelt died?  I am thinking Teddy Roosevelt made the quote.  It is possible that Fred Astaire made a similar quote and it is lost in “translation.”

But I think we are going to make mistakes when we get old, regardless of when we get started.

But we need to accept Jesus with that wide-eyed, all-in enthusiasm.  We need a child-like faith while maintaining a demeanor that is not childish.  I think Beth Moore said something similar to that, but don’t quote me…

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory