The glory of the young is their strength. Gray hair is the splendor of the old. ~Proverbs 20:29
Listen to Me, O House of Jacob, all you who remain of the House of Israel, you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried since your birth. Even to your old age and gray hairs I am He, I am He who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you. I will sustain you and I will rescue you. ~Isaiah 46-3-4
I love the game of racquetball. I haven’t been able to play it for a long time, mostly because I haven’t lived very close to a court. When Kathy and I lived in Menominee, there was a court at the Y and we were members, so I was able to play pretty often. I’ll never forget a match that I had with an older gentleman.
I was still in my twenties back then, young and vigorous, and a pretty good player. My opponent looked pretty old and skinny. I thought this was going to be an easy win. He shuffled into the middle of the court and I let him serve first. He was a good server and I had to run from where I was to get the ball. But I hit it back just fine, only it went right to where he was standing, so he didn’t have to move and he “gently,” or with hardly any movement, returned the ball to the wall so that I had to run all the way across court again! But I got it, managed to scoop it off the floor, but I didn’t manage to make it go anywhere but right back to where he was standing, and again, with hardly any movement on his part, or so it seemed, the ball went flying to the other side of the court and I really had to run to catch it!
The whole match was like that. No matter where I hit it, no matter how hard, or how I angled it, the ball always seemed to go right where he was standing, and he always managed to make it go everywhere else. He won. That’s a simple illustration of the difference between youthful strength and older wisdom. I knew how to run and hit. He knew how to “play” the ball! I learned some good lessons from him.
When we are young, we may be strong, but as we grow older, we had better grow in wisdom to figure out how to still get the job done. I was reminded of an interesting fact the other day in a discussion with Ed Dunlap, the gentleman who will be conducting our senior exercise classes. He reminded me that after age 60, we begin losing five to ten percent of our muscle mass every ten years as we age. The way to prevent loss is to keep using our muscles. Unfortunately, as we age, we also tend to become more sedentary and that makes the loss worse. It really is true that if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it.
When we are young, we are much stronger and that can be our glory. However, we do well to recognize that our physical strength is a waning gift that will not last. We won’t always be able to muscle our way through or push our way to the top of the mountain. We need to be investing in other skills, those of the mind, to grow in wisdom which will be our splendor in old age.
Sadly, many younger people do not value the wisdom of the elderly. That is because they believe they will always be able to do what they want. The elderly, however, need to stay engaged and offer their wisdom when asked. Remember what we discussed yesterday about needing love. Young people need love today more than ever. They need to know that we care, but they also need to know what we can teach them.
The disconnect between the young and the elderly is a tragedy that we, in our wisdom, need to think and pray about how to remedy. That is the only way what we have to share will be passed along. God has both strength and wisdom, splendor and glory. We, however, often do not possess both at the same time. However, if we can work together as a body, the younger bringing their strength and enthusiasm, the older sharing their wisdom, it can be another one of God’s blessings to the world.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, now that I am older and wiser (I hope), help me find the ways to connect with younger folks and get a chance to share the gospel and the wisdom of God, in Jesus’ name, amen.
Song: I Was There to Hear Your Borning Cry
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