There seems to be many apprehensions in life. Doing things differently and staying the same both have ways of creating second thoughts and building tension. All sorts of things bring on these apprehensive feelings like replacing Christ in Christmas with an X, or replacing seven verses and seven choruses with seven repeats of the same line in a song. What about replacing weather faded hymn books with huge TV (oh my) screens. My worst fear was replacing the good ol' diaper pail with that new electronic diaper disposal system. My younger years found me impatient because I thought unchangeable was stagnation. Now that I'm older I have a hard time comprehending new things and think change is unnecessary.
When I was a youngster in college moseying my way through the mountains of Colorado, I came upon an interesting tree root. I'm not really sure if my musings of the day created the inclination or if the root actually looked like the compilation of a young and an old man. The bottom of the root looked like a muscular young man in a running pose as if hurrying somewhere, the top was a burl formed into the head of an old man, wrinkled, blemished, gnarled and bearded. This all found me in a struggling part of life; of being young and wanting to change and getting rid of old ways. But I was scared to grab life's new ideas and move into an uncomfortable world.
Times had become different. There were new ideas...many I wasn't sure were good. And many ideas seemed profound and I wished had been part of my life much earlier. As I looked at the root of man I wrote a poem that shaped me somewhat about my thoughts of young and old.
Prudent Selection
Light then breaks through tattered rinds
while rain, it flows in gutters,
lapped by tasteless tongues of time.
The mind is all that mutters....
Glistening rays bounce off the mass
when grip it seems to tighten.
Too soon to undergo the pain except for fickle lass,
is cause to never frighten.
Is it might or clever mind
that is a desperate need?
Side by side they'll surely find
some troubled lives to lead!
Strength or wisdom look to see,
both can rate as charity.
As the rain came down and glistened off that muscular body, I realized that change is inevitable and I must press on toward this perfection I follow in Christ. But the rain cascading down the wrinkles of the old man....what of him? I believe those tears have eroded many gutters of experience that can save much wasted time in this journey with my Lord. I must hold them dear as well.
It matters not what side of the fence I graze on. I have my likes, dislikes, and concerns...kinds of music, styles of clothes, methods of finance, techniques of worship. Unfortunately my humanness takes over in many of my decisions. I'm willing to throw out the old ideas and bring in something fresh. But what about others? My fresh may seem putrid to them. Why did I think older people (who were younger than I am now) were closed and set in their ways? The reality, I think, was because I wanted them to like this "new" as much as I did. What I found was that older people, by walking the path I was now walking, had created a clear motif, much better than my haphazard motives. This motif must always be consistent...Christ. We must base our life on Christ's desires not on our clever motives and ingenuity.
Does it matter young or old, hip or hop, classical or rap, fast paced or slow? I can like rap or rock or gospel and it will get me to the right destination as long as I'm going in the right direction. God may even tap His toe a time or two to both rock or hymns...I think He has no battle here.
Do I feel that the only people needing to find a Savior are those who like "change"? Maybe some who need this Savior like "same". The old may have to depend on strength to lead them because they are no longer able. Or maybe the strong need the wise to lead them forward. Leading, however, doesn't automatically change likes and dislikes. Wisdom and stability are intrinsically important as is strength and new ideas. If we all have an interest in this challenge called Christ-likeness we must look out for the interests of others. I can be as happy or even more-so to see my friends smile to their style of music rather than having to chase my toe tapping all over the stage. Or to see my kids and their friends, kick up their heels in worship to God as I sit stoically exhausted twelve rows back on the left side of the sanctuary.
I think God has a use for stable and changeable, and young and old alike. The prudent selection here is neither one or the other but both.
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