Look at Your Hands!
These older women must train the younger women to live quietly, to love their husbands and their children, and to be sensible and clean minded, spending their time in their own homes, being kind and obedient to their husbands so that the Christian faith can’t be spoken against by those who know them. Titus 2:4-5 (TLB)
We cannot escape it! The process of aging is written into almost everyone’s life story. The hands we once held during our courtship and early marriage have now been replaced with physical roughness. However, we still feel safe and loved with that special touch. If life has been a test, then you truly have a testimony. Someone needs to hear your inspiring words. Kristen West (Mornings with Jesus) encourages the older to mentor the younger. (Men, teach the younger men.) But the first step? Look at your hands!
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I always loved Grandma’s hands. As a child, I remember crawling into her lap, holding her hands, and admiring them as I traced the wrinkles and veins with my fingers. Grandma’s hands reflected a lifetime of wisdom, experience, and faithfulness. Years of loving her husband, raising her children, serving her community, and helping her neighbors. Her beautiful hands and her presence helped shape my life as she modeled the love of Jesus.
Now, having crossed the threshold of middle age, I’m a grandma. I fall into that blessed bracket of older women that Paul mentioned in Titus. Those verses inspire me to let Jesus use me in unique and purposeful as I connect with younger women who need my voice, my experience, my stories, and my wisdom.
One of my greatest callings as an older woman is to invest in those coming behind me by authentically sharing my testimony and insights. How did I navigate those sleepless nights with a colicky baby? How did I prioritize my time with Jesus when days were hectic and the calendar was full? What did I do to stay encouraged during “for better or worse” in my marriage? I don’t need a stage or podium for this assignment, just a willingness to be used by Jesus—one conversation at a time.
How do you know if you’re qualified to be senior citizen if you don’t look at your hands?
Heavenly Father, thank You for our own individual stories. Help us to be alert to needs of others and share openly with them. Give us a willingness to be used by You. AMEN.