dAdopt the Pace of Nature
Now it takes us longer to walk a mile in our shoes, leave alone make a difference in the world. Our interests have changed from traveling the world with a backpack to saving for a luxury cruise. We check our investments instead of checking out the nearest rock concert. Instead of aspiring to plant seeds of greatness, we cultivate our gardens and flowerbeds, noticing the beauty of nature’s details. We see we are on the other side of the generation gap and wonder how we crossed the great divide without knowing it.
This past week has shown me more than any other time that I’ve crossed the bridge. My stepsister has been calling me old for years because I love to knit, and she saw that as an older adult’s hobby. I suppose it can be, but I never thought of it as being old. I felt more creative and practical. I think ‘old’ is a way of thinking. The idea that we know the best way to do things. We have found the path and absolute truth of life. The difference we have made is the difference for which the world was looking. Admit it; we have made a difference!.
Every generation gets their chance to make a difference, and that’s good because the world is always changing. We need new ideas to keep it turning. But what I have been noticing is the striving of the younger generations. The competition to be the first or the best in whatever they do. Hiding behind degrees or positions to keep their confidence often comes across more like arrogance. I know we were like that too. I have a classmate that admits she has too many degrees
We made our mistakes and did our best to self-correct them. I know I did. I could have learned a few things from my elders and probably did if I remembered what they said. But while conversing with the younger generation, I noticed an inner peace in myself I had not noticed before. I have moved past needing to be seen as the one who has it right or the need to have the last word. I can leave what might have been a hot-tempered discussion and see the beauty in hearing other views and remain calm.
Its Secret is Patience
More than feeling calm after a heated discussion is understanding the lesson on life the forum offered. We must realize that being right is not the most important thing. Being loving is the most important thing. Knowing I am made in the image of God, as Genesis 3 tells us and a little lower than God, doesn’t make me a god. It makes me privileged to reflect God and His love for those with whom I have contact. It could be we slow down when we get older to see the essential things in life. Perhaps knowing our relationship with God is an intimate relationship that has grown over the years to make us into His image helps people see Him in our acts of kindness or our words. God is long-suffering. He is more than patient with us; He is willing to look beyond the mess we make to what we can become in relationship to Him. It takes time and slowing to His pace to understand this. I know many great Christians are young, and I don’t discount their understanding of spiritual life. I also don’t overlook that some people over retirement age haven’t started on a spiritual journey to knowing God.
There is Help from the Ultimate Elder
Having worked with people nearing the end of life, I know they are open to hearing about God and His blessings. One of those great blessings is knowing God can forgive us for the things we have gotten wrong in life. Another benefit is that God offers us an afterlife that is beyond our imagination. We can wait until our deathbed to decide to be forgiven because we finally understand we didn’t have all the answers after all. Or we can enter into a relationship with God right now through Jesus Christ and admit we never had all the answers. We probably don’t care so much about being right as having God’s inner peace and enjoying His blessings. Since we have slowed down now to see God’s beautiful creation, let’s also surrender our pride and striving so we can admit we need help with life. Whether we are doing old age alone or with a partner, it can be the best time of our life! As A. Wetherall Johnson used to say. “Let’s not finish somehow; let’s finish triumphantly!”
Adopt the pace of nature, her secret is patience. Ralph Waldo Emerson
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