As We Age

I'm getting old. At least some days I feel old. And feeling old can make me start to think that maybe I'm not worth as much as I used to be, because I don't have the energy to do as much as I used to. That is an American problem first of all, because our worth measured by how much we can do. And of course, there are many ways we all become much more valuable as we mature -- which, hopefully, we're doing at the same rate as we are aging!! Pete Scazzero (www.emotionallyhealthy.org) brought up something recently that I hadn't thought about, and I'd like to share it with you by starting from his observation and tying in something else.

Did you ever wonder about the two elderly people in the temple, who in Luke 2:22-38 are led by the Spirit to witness about Jesus? They were up in years, and yet each performed a very important service: Simeon, by proclaiming Jesus's destiny, in front of his astonished parents, and Anna, who as a prophetess, began to publicly proclaim who Jesus was and what God was doing. They both had already lived full lives, and who knows what other ways they could have lived, yet they dedicated themselves to prayer, giving themselves to the Lord for his work through them.

Somebody once quoted a child who described grandparents as "the only grownups who have time" because his parents always seemed to have something else to do besides listen to him. Ouch! My life is still more full of activity than I'd like, but I'm learning to make time and room for the little ones who show up in my life, because the time I give to them makes them feel loved and wanted. (Have you noticed how the little children who've been attending with us lately have responded to us and want to return?)

You may have your own grandchildren close by, or maybe like me, you don't even have any. But there are other children around us who could use someone to talk with and show them God's love. We have some in our congregation, and I'm sure, each of us have one or more in different parts of our lives. And if we were to resolve to use our time, maturity, and wisdom -- as well as listening to the Holy Spirit's leading -- to deliberately bless those young people, how much do you think we could help and encourage them? Wouldn't that be a good use of the wisdom and sensitivity the Lord has given us as we've aged?

Jesus showed the love of the Father to little children during his ministry. As we are transformed day by day into the image of Christ (2 Cor 3:18), Jesus-in-us desires to love those children just as he did then -- and as his ministry continues in us! Please allow me to suggest that stopping to notice, bless and love a little one (and his or her parents!), is one of the best possible uses of our time today and every day. Our love of these often-overlooked little ones is a powerful witness to them of what is, actually, the love of Father God for them. You and I can still participate, like Simeon and Anna did, in God's message of salvation. "So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation" (Psa. 71:18).