But when we determined he was okay I said, "Joe, I promise I'll never bring up your old girlfriends again, that makes your heart beat too fast!" He laughed and went back to his walking the next day. Here's a guy who has gone through intense grief, ill health, and severe disappointment in people, but he doesn't allow past regrets to restrict him. He's living in the present and positive about the future.

The second most dangerous temptation according to our seniors is a Critical Spirit. This is one of those temptations that intensifies as we get older. Our patience gets thinner, and we gripe about unpleasant circumstances. We often feel a loss of influence and criticize people who are now in charge. Criticism is sometimes a way of getting attention and reminding people of our importance.

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Criticism comes second nature to us as we get older. "I wish they'd discipline that child." "It's embarrassing the way she dresses." "How much do you think they spent for that banner?" "Why does he wear that apparatus in front of his face when he preaches?" "I wish he didn't use notes; the other guy doesn't use notes." It's endless!

In the Bible, Sarah, the wife of Abraham, was a wonderful and cooperative wife. But it seems the older she got the more critical she became. At age 60, she became impatient with God for not fulfilling His promise of a child and instructed her husband to have a child by her servant girl Hagar. Then she criticized Abraham for doing what she had asked him to do. Then she criticized Hagar for acting so smug about her pregnancy. She then criticized Hagar's son Ishmael for taunting her young son Isaac. Sarah's criticism in her older years made the home a place of agitation and discomfort for a while. Paul told Titus, "Teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers . . . " (Titus 2:3).

The cure for a critical spirit is to replace criticism with a positive attitude. Just refuse to become a grumpy old man or whiny old woman. You might get attention with criticism, but you don't make any friends. Nobody ever says, "Let's go talk with Hazel — I love to hear her gripe!" Make a vow that you're not going to say anything critical or unkind.

Look for that which is positive and praise it. When Peggy Cherry's husband died she wrote, "I had (my husband) Bob for 53 years, plus a year of courtship. I am so at peace with my loss. Why are we surprised when God answers our prayers?"

What's the difference between that and the woman who whines, "My husband is gone after 53 years. God let me down. My kids hardly ever come see me. The church neglects me."

The difference is attitude — focusing on the positive. Philippians 4:8 reads, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things." If you can't say something positive don't say anything at all.