Issue 731 – May Flowers – May 1, 2022
Technically, these are April flowers, not May, but they are tulips from our backyard. I love their colouring and their opalescent translucence. We have another bouquet of beautiful tulips in another room, and they too were grown locally, albeit in a commercial greenhouse and were purchased from a store.
As we move more fully into Springtime, every day brings colourful delights. Different plants bloom, and the floral display is ever-changing.
Spring brings the promise of summer. Summer is the growing season. Autumn brings the promise of harvest and winter the promise of a season of rest. Our Lord carefully designed each season.
People go through predictable seasons as well. Infancy is followed by childhood and teen years. As we move into adulthood, we gain maturity and wisdom. We move into middle age, then into our senior years and eventually go home to be with the Lord.
Those labels and their definitions have changed over time. The media sings siren songs like “Forty is the new 20” or “Fifty is the new 30”.
In Jesus’ day, a person was considered an adult in their early teens. Today someone of 30 is still considered a “youth” by many social agencies. The concept of teen years is a relatively new invention. The first use of “teenager” was in a 1941 Popular Science magazine article.
Our society today is obsessed with youthfulness and terrified of the concept of aging and death. We have lost so much in our desire to remain “young.”
I confess that at 64, I cannot do some of the things I could do at 20, at least not as quickly or for as long. I also suspect that my mind has inflated what I thought I could do back then.
I am comfortable in my own skin and age. I don’t feel any urge to go “back in time” and be younger. Each stage of life has its joys and sorrows. I am closer to Winter than Spring, but I am okay with that.
I can invest my life in enriching the lives of those who are younger. I don’t have the pressures of a challenging career or young family to hold me back.
The older teaching the younger is a biblical pattern ordained by God.
But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behaviour, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. Bondservants are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. Titus 2:1-10
Having said that, we must be careful not to assume that we have all the answers as we age and don’t have to listen anymore. The pattern is for the old to teach the young, but it would be arrogant foolishness to think that we cannot also learn from those younger than us.
Each age has something to contribute to the others. For that reason, the tendency to segregate the ages in church breaks my heart. We are a family, and a healthy family sees all ages come together in love and mutual respect.
Old or young, we learn from each other. Whatever your age, may you find someone of a different generation to befriend and learn from.
Thank God for the differing seasons in life.
Hallelu Yah (Praise God)
Be blessed.
Kevin.
Gleanings From The Word.
Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life.
Soli Deo Gloria (for the glory of God alone.)
_____________________________
All contents are © 2001, 2022 K. F. “Kevin” Corbin and Gleanings From The Word.
Check us out on the web at https://gleaningsfromtheword.com and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Retalk.
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the English Standard Version (ESV). Spelling modified to Canadian English as required.
____________________________
#devotional #biblestudy #dailybible #bible #love #joy #gleanings #KevinCorbin #jesus #god #faith #christian #Christ #Father #bibleverses #prayer #church #forgiveness #Holyspirit #pray #jesuschrist #worship #Biblereading #believe #dailybiblereading #dailybible #devotional #discipleship
#tulips #flowers #garden #seasons