Articles
Experience Is The Best Teacher
After pondering, for several years actually, my wife and I finally bit off and bought one of those adjustable beds. Our sleeping needs are different and it was just time. I stood at home while the guys installed it and the last thing they did was to demonstrate it and teach me how to operate the remote. The fellow showed me a speed button, left lower, that, in his words "my wife can hit if I snore, and it automatically raises the bed". I'm just wondering why he thought my wife needed that button instead of me?
As we age, so many things change. Our bodies are certainly one of those. Our eyes get worse, perhaps our hearing, our mobility, and our strength just to name a few. Aside from the physical aspect of aging, come other changes. For instance, we also don't worry so much about some things anymore, like if our mate snores. On the contrary, we are just thankful they wake up next to us the following morning.
Physical things that used to be of concern no longer have as much bearing on the big picture as they used to. We tend to focus more on just the basics, and if those are intact, we feel blessed. Spiritual things take on a much more important role, occupy more time and space in our lives, and often we pay more attention to those than we used to. It is easier to devote more time to spiritual things, and easier to say no to earthly things. Physical things that used to be goals in life, don't have the urgency that they once did. We tend to look inside more for beauty now than outside, and we have more ability to not sweat the little stuff anymore. In most cases, we are more patient about most everything. Joy comes more frequently, albeit mixed with aches and pains sometimes.
What causes all of these issues of life to look different approaching 60 than they did at 20, is not bad eyesight or poor hearing, but rather maturity. Spiritual maturity is why God gives us Elders to oversee the church instead of Youngers. God did not tell churches to appoint college graduates with Ph.D.'s to oversee the church, but rather those men who had reached a point in life where they have raised children, and experienced life beyond youth, and managed to be faithful, respected men of integrity in the face of an evil and corrupt world. It's not 'book smarts' God requires in His leaders, it's 'life smarts'.
One of the things we should pass along to our kids today, to our younger generation, is the Biblical principles of learning from our elders in the church, not just the Shepard Elders, but the non-Shepard Elders too, those with age and maturity. Experience is the best teacher, and our older brothers and sisters have a lot of knowledge about life that our younger generation(s) needs to know.
With life comes change. With age comes maturity. With experience comes wisdom. When my dad passed away at 86, he was still teaching me things, things he knew that I did not yet know. I'm still learning from him even though he left this world some time ago.
"Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?" Job 12:12 "Age should speak; advanced years should teach wisdom." Job 32:7
