The Full Circle of Life

Yesterday in church the pastor said we had a special guest. He then introduced "Auntie Doreen", a 91-year-old woman who's been a member of the church since 1929 and taught Sunday School for 60 years. The pastor wanted to honour her, not for being at the church for so long, but for living a godly life and being an example and inspiration to the rest of us. When he said that, the congregation spontaneously gave her a standing ovation. The pastor encouraged us all to find an older person to mentor us. And THEN all the new babies in the church were introduced and dedicated. It was the full circle of life!

What I love about this is that there is room for all of us. We nurture the little ones and learn from the older ones. In my own culture, it seems like once the older generation passes the baton to the younger generation, they are forgotten, or worse - cast aside. We honour them when they die, but we seldom value their wisdom and experience as we are too busy with our fast-paced, technologically-advanced world. I realise I'm making sweeping stereotypes here, so maybe I should personalise this so as not to offend anyone:

I was pleased to see the church honour someone who has lived their life well. I hope that I never get so caught up with my iPod and email (or blog!) that I fail to enjoy the older generation, share a cup of tea, and just... listen.