I’m so thankful that I get to be in a faith community with so many godly older people.
I like these words from William Sloane Coffin: “I’ve noticed that the older, the more gnarled the cherry tree, the greater the profusions of blossoms. And sometimes the oldest and dustiest bottles hold the most sparkling wine. I’m drawn by faces lined with crow’s feet, those ‘credentials of humanity,’ beautifully lit from within.”
I was showing Chris some of the basics of Photoshop Elements. I played with a picture of Diane and me for a while and then called him in to spot the changes (including someone in the background I got rid of). In one of them, I used the “soft brush” feature to get rid of a couple wrinkles in my forehead. When he noticed, he insisted he didn’t like it. He preferred the shot with the wrinkles.
And really, so did I.
As Jimmy Buffett put it: “Wrinkles only go where the smiles have been.”
My favorite class at North Atlanta is the Seniors Fresh Faith class. I joined it before I was legally a senior. I just love all the people in that class.
Such truth and so early in the morning!
Mike, it’s good for me to know that you, a young person of only 50, wanted to remove a couple of wrinkles on your brow. I continue to be convicted of my own human resistance to my image in the mirror when I can plainly see the work of gravity and age. I am embarrassed by my vanity and avoid mirrors whenever possible.
One solution: Hang out with those at least my age or older and we don’t see one another’s wrinkles! : )
The best solution: Remember Proverbs 31:30.
Actually it was Mark Twain (not Jimmy Buffett) who said it first in “Following the Equator”, but only a real PHead would know that. Here are some others…”Years may wrinkle the skin but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul” from Samual Ullman. “With mirth and laughter, let old wrinkles come” from William Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice.
i remember my grandmother’s front porch and how it seemed holy when all her friends were out there rocking in their chairs talking about life. I remember peeking through the dusty old wooden slats of the shade hoping to get a glimpse and listening to the wisdom..this think tank on my grandmother’s front porch in Montgomery, Alabama taught me many things and they had no clue..or did they…
Old people are treasures that I fear our society has dumped..this makes me sad.
Actually, I’ve noticed that the converse is also true: wrinkles also go where frowns have been. Look at an old person, especially around the mouth, and you can tell whether they spent more time smiling or frowning. When I made that observation, I resolved to develop smile wrinkles. Time will tell…
Wrinkles - God’s gift wrap, preparing us for His ultimate gift, life eternal with Him. Bring ‘em on, LORD!
Maranatha, LORD Jesus, Maranatha!!!
btw-I wrote a piece about this May 30th this year. If you’re curious:
http://beauangelkitty.blogspot.com/2006/05/wrinkled-gift-wrap.html
What a mistake we have made (my opinion) in segregating ourselves in the church by age. From nursery on, we are trained to be with our own age/development level/education level/marital status/ etc/ etc. We lose the knack for relating to others outside our little group. When I think back on the Basses, Ruth and Buster Lewis, and others, I am reminded that it should not be so. How they blessed me and my children!!!
Not long ago, I was calling volunteers for prayers over a mission group, and I called one of our “older” members to donate 30 minutes. He was so excited to be asked, but he had never, ever been asked to do such a thing before. He has been a member of our church 15 years or so, all of them retirement years, and has never been asked to spend even 30 minutes praying for a special group or problem. He told me that sometimes he felt like the church had put him out to pasture before God was through with him. How sad is that?
What have we missed by assuming that wrinkles are equivalent to retirement from life, that someone who is retired is no longer of use to the church?
What have we missed by not creating events and circumstances which bring old and young together? As I look in the mirror (not as kind as it used to be) and review my own mortality, I am reminded that God is very, very old indeed, and age should not be a factor in fellowship and involvement. If the older generation has no value, why does God let people live so long?
I think older folks, babies, children, students, parents and all have great value, and sometimes we just box ourselves up in our own age group cubicle and forget that. We miss a great deal by distancing ourselves from other age groups, both younger and older. We miss a great deal, indeed.
think that the dividsioan between older and younger, are largely non-existent..chekc out this vid of old people doing ballet..I find it inspirational
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe2_ixh1H90