Youngsters at the Nursing Home

So tonight I went with my Bible Study to the Glenaire Nursing home in Cary. This is our normal outreach, and we have started to build a relationship with one wing of this grandiose place. And I usually leave there feeling the same way every time. The one where you go-"I want to feel accomplished one day, and hope to have a legend like they do." I do feel pity for these individuals sometimes, knowing that they don't have visitors very often, but I also know that they are full of wonderful vivacious stories that I cannot wait to have told to me!

Most of us think of these people as those who have lived their lives and are on the downward slope. However, tonight I was taken back by a quote that I saw in the main wing of their building. It was on their flat screen TV that held their updates for the day, including the menu, the weather, news updates, etc. The quote read:

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. " Anne Frank

And I thought to myself, you know it doesn't matter what age you are to help improve the world. We can improve it in one single instance, and that may be all God needs from us. We are planting seeds everywhere we go, and one elderly person could plant something at age 90 just as well as they could at age 19. God uses us at all ages, and it's so incredible. I realized how amazing it was that at the two extremes of our lives we are more malleable than we ever can imagine. When we are young, we have naivete on our sides and we want that relationship we learn about in Sunday School. Then when we enter the "Glenaire" age we have lived our lives, some to the fullest, and some with regrets, but those there spoke only of the positives and were "child-like" again. And isn't that what He wants us to do-"come with child-like faith." But in each instance, they were improving the world even still!

What a refreshing evening! And on top of it all we bought the tickets for Nicaragua! Now we just have to raise the rest of the money for the trip. . . Benefit concert is set. . .and the letters are starting to go out--Praying for a constant "child-like" faith during this time.