A police car rolled into the driveway at Grandma’s house with Grandpa grinning ear to ear in the backseat.
“I’m bringing your husband home,” the officer said. “He got lost in the park.”
“Why, Grandpa,” she said. “You’ve been walking to that park for more than 30 years. How in the world could you get lost?”
Leaning in close to Grandma so the policeman couldn’t hear, Grandpa whispered: “I wasn’t exactly lost. I was just too tired to walk home.”
I love that the marks of age can be a great benefit to us. Most people in this part of the country understand that people who reach advanced years are deserving of respect and special treatment, like a free ride home.
“The glory of young men is their strength, but the splendor of old men is their gray hair (Proverbs 20:29).
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Around here, we tend to take note of gray hair, because we understand that those who have it have experienced things unknown to younger generations. The Bible instructs us to look upon senior citizens with respect, because “gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life (Proverbs 16:31).
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Around here, we’re taught to respect people with gray hair. In fact, let a God-fearing set of parents see one of their kids disrespecting the elderly and you’ll see some serious educating take place, immediately.
I was reading Psalm 71 the other day, and was struck by a prayer to the Lord, apparently from one who had the wisdom of years and who knew the frailty of an aged body.
“Deliver me, God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of those who are evil and cruel. For you have been my hope, Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth. From birth I have relied on you; you brought me forth from my mother’s womb. I will ever praise you. I have become a sign to many; you are my strong refuge. My mouth is filled with your praise, declaring your splendor all day long. Do not cast me away when I am old; do not forsake me when my strength is gone.”
We can be assured that God will not cast his people away when they are old, that he will never leave us nor forsake us … even when we find ourselves in the backseat of a police cruiser, pleased with our ingenuity in securing a free ride home.
Roger Alford of Owenton, Kentucky, offers words of encouragement to residents of America’s heartland. Reach him at rogeralford1@gmail.com.
