For the past two years we have hung
a Boston Fern on our back patio, both years we have had birds silver, furry,
lining. She showed me the nest and I told her, “I know why it has a silver lining…. You cut my hair on the back patio the other day
and they must have pick up the hair left on the ground to line their nest.”
Yes, my hair is a kind of silver white, that’s not unusual in our day and age is it. They
tell us that we as a nation are living longer and longer. The current average
life expectancy is 78.7 years which is an improvement over the 68.7 years of
1960. In other words, there are more “gray heads” around than there used to be.
Some have referred to this as “the graying of America”.
I’ve been increasingly bothered by
the shift in our nation over the past 20 or 30 years. There seems to be a lack
of respect for the “older generation”. You can see it almost everywhere you go
and throughout all aspects of our society. Yet, this is exactly the opposite of
how God’s word tells us it should be.
Proverbs 16:31 tells us, “Gray
hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained in the way of righteousness.” In
Leviticus 19:32 we
read: “Stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect for the
elderly and revere your God.’
It seems significant to me that God
links showing respect for the elderly with revering our God? Now I’m not
writing this to beg for sympathy for me as I age, like many of my age group on
the inside I feel a lot younger than I look on the outside. For me personally I
don’t necessarily want or need special treatment, but God’s word says we who
have gray hair deserve it. When is the last time you saw a young person give
their seat to someone who was older than them. When was the last time you saw
the “gray heads” being allowed to go first through a line or even through a
door simply because it was the respectful thing to do? Our county and our
schools will not teach this lesson, but then it is not their job to teach it,
it is the job of us who are parents or leaders in our churches.
The gray in our hair is more than
just something put there by nature. It is part of the silver
lining God is lining our personal nests with…. It may not often appear that it
is near us or that we have access to it, but if we stop and think about it is
always there if we are near our God. In Isaiah 46:4, God says: “Even
to your old age I will be the same, And even to your graying years I will bear
you! I have done it, and I will carry you; And I will bear you and I will
deliver you.
Our God “Has done it” and
will continue. Even when we don’t feel very appreciated or respected the one
who truly counts in our life appreciates, loves and respects us.
