“Then
the LORD your God will prosper you abundantly in all the work of your hand, in
the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your cattle and in the
produce of your ground, for the LORD will again rejoice over you for good, just
as He rejoiced over your fathers; if you obey the LORD your God to keep His
commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you
turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and soul.” Deuteronomy 30:9-10
This Sunday we will be honoring our
senior adults at NSBC. I am not sure
exactly at what age you qualify but I know I’m getting close. Seems I will be filing for Medicare sometime
before July 6th so I know I’m getting close. Funny how sometimes I feel it and sometimes I
don’t...old that is. One thing that’s
for sure is there are plenty of people around to remind me!
Being old(er) is a pretty special
thing to be. For one thing, you have
been allowed to experience a great deal more of life and sort out some of its
complexities. Things that are such a
stressor on many of the “less mature” around you don’t really matter that much
to you anymore. You’ve “been there and
done that” and learned that some things that seem such a threat in life when
you are younger are really toothless lions.
On the flip side, things that don’t seem to bother the next generation
are things you know are really important.
Things like retirement, taking care of your health while you have it and
saying “I love you” to people you care about more.
It’s no surprise that the Bible
encourages us to listen to the voices of our elders. There is much to be gained by doing so. It’s amazing that how quickly we criticize a
teenager for not listening to their parents and then fail to give attention to
the generations before us when they share a concern or comment about our
decisions. Just like children that have
learned to swallow their pride and admit their parents were right, following
generations need to admit some of the same.
It’s one thing to honor the ones who have gone before us for their
patriotism, work ethic, spiritual strength, sense of duty, commitment to family
and other values but something else to apply those values to ourselves.
I
hope my kids and grandkids can learn a little from what I have gleaned over the
years and not fall victim to the same traps I did or fail to capitalize on
opportunities I missed. History does not
give much hope. It seems every
generation has to learn by its own mistakes.
There are some, however, in every generation who learn to walk in the
wisdom of those who have gone before and spare themselves a great deal of
trouble. It is my prayer that such will
be the case for the our coming generations.
At
North Side, we stand on the foundation and work of those who have gone before
in faith and vision. The resources we
enjoy have, for the most part, been provided by individuals who were faithful
decades before us. Several of those who
have sacrificed for this church to be what it has become over the past fifty
years are still here. We will honor them
this Sunday for their sacrifice and faith.
But what would thrill them more than anything is if we would just listen
a bit to their wisdom and commit to carry a burden for the kingdom into the
next generation.
Guess
I am to become one of the Senior Saints very soon. I just pray I can be as strong a testimony to
others as many of these at NSBC have been to me.
Scripture to Claim:
And even when I
am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me, until I declare Your strength
to this generation, Your power
to all who are to come. Psalms 71:18
