Shopping keeps us young! So go out: buy! Spend! Be a good citizen! Do it for your health!

Well! The The Herald Sun reports : “SHOP so you don’t drop. That’s the message from a curious new international study, which shows shopping could help you live longer.”

Older men who indulged in daily shopping trips were 28 per cent more likely to live longer, compared with 23 per cent for women.
Australian experts say shopping can lift spirits for all ages.

“Modern stores are bright, energetic places that I would think can be pleasantly stimulating occasionally if your alternative is largely being stuck at home with limited forms of communication or contact,” he said.

Sure the article does mention that it is the social interaction with others, the companionship that is beneficial and with this point I thoroughly agree. But HOW in the world do they arrive at the conclusion then, that it is shopping (spending money, being a consumer) that leads to longevity of life. How about other forms of social interaction like volunteer work in the local community, being an active member of the local community and being active within the church community? Making encouraging phone calls or sending cards, writing letters or the occasional visit is certainly more satisfying than spending money. Investing in relationships… putting time and effort into eternal matters has to be fulfilling and beneficial for everyone involved.

What a totally worldly way of looking at this issue. Not only should we aim to be interactive in our elderly years but as younger women, it is very important that we learn to respect the older women in our church community. If we treat them with disrespect or treat them as the world treats the elderly then they will most likely react accordingly.

The Scriptures tell us what to expect from old age… and how to spend our time:

Wisdom is with aged men, With long life is understanding.
Job 12:12

If any believing woman has widows, she should help them, and the church should not be burdened, so that it can help those who are genuinely widows.
1 Timothy 5:16

They shall still bear fruit in old age; They shall be fresh and flourishing.
Psalms 92:12-14


Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.

Titus 2:3-5

As a family we watched this as a news article on TV the other night. We used it as a way to teach the children how the media (and anyone pushing a bias) can attempt to manipulate the hearer by using faulty reasoning and jumping to unreasonable conclusions. Grrr, it makes me mad!

Rant over… back to your irregularly-never-scheduled blog. 🙂