Golden Years Well Spent

My art class at the nursing home was filled with new students. I wish I could show you their faces but due to HIPA laws, I cannot. They were so attentive, and so enjoyed drawing and painting watering cans. All of them told me that they were very grateful I had taken the time to help them learn how to draw and paint.

One said she was too old to learn new things. I asked her if she had ever heard of Grandma Moses. She had not.

"She was a woman who started painting when she was  almost 80," I told the lady.
"Oh my!" the lady said.
"And she became a famous artist!"
"At age 80??" the lady asked.
"Yes! So see, you are not too old!"

God delivers a similar message throughout the Bible. For example, Caleb was 85 years old when he was told to go drive out the enemies of Israel and take control of the Promised Land. He claims to have felt as strong and capable as when he was twenty. His strength and vigor in old age seems to have been related to his whole-hearted following of God. God's purpose does have a way of energizing us beyond what we ever imagined we could do.

As part of my new job as Volunteer Coordinator with Cities4Life, I am helping develop a new volunteer packet. We thought a testimonial about one of the moms I work with would be useful. I was going to write one, but then found a document in my files from two years ago with several testimonials I had already written. As I read them, I remembered these moms who had chosen life over abortion in the midst of devastating circumstances. I remember how I felt as a brand new sidewalk counselor in front of the terrible abortion center and facing an evil that was so thick it hurt to breathe. And somehow I was expected to speak on behalf of the babies when I could hardly draw a breath for the pain of what was happening there!

But as I reread these testimonials from my first days as a counselor,  I was amazed that those women's impossible situations had not dictated their actions and they had been influenced to follow God and to choose life by ....me. Little untrained, clueless, tongue-tied, shy, and forgetful me... entering my 6th decade of life having NEVER done anything remotely as scary as this in my youth.

Whether having youthful vigor or not, our age should never limit our ability to try new things and especially, to seek and follow God. If God blesses you with many years, it is an act of gratitude to use those years to their fullest in service to Him and His people.

One woman in my art class had tremors in her hands due to Parkinsons, and struggled to finish her work. I offered to help. When it was done, I asked if I should add anything else?
"Well, you are creative. What do you think?"
"It's almost Easter, and I believe Christ died for our sins and rose again, just as we celebrate on Resurrection Sunday. Maybe I could put a cross in the background?"
The woman nodded.
I painted in a cross and then signed it for her. Her eyes glistened with tears.
"I will keep this," she said.
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Meanwhile, my folks own golden years just got brighter. My amazing sister Amy helped move them to Tucson where now they have adorable, charming GREAT GRANDCHILDREN to see every day. I suspect Amy added ten years to their lives.

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The broadcast on WFAE 90.7 FM (NPR Charlotte) about the clash between pro-life and pro-choice groups where I minister on the sidewalks with the pro-life group, Cities4Life,  will begin live at 8:30 for reporter analysis, and then an hour long discussion from 9-10 a.m. EST.  I have been told it will be available to hear all day Thursday on-line at WFAE.org
I was mic'ed much of the time by the reporter so he could catch what I said to the women. Oh Lord I pray I didn't say anything too stupid.
Click here for preview: 
http://wfae.org/post/free-speech-claims-enter-abortion-protests-charlotte-clinic
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If you would like to learn more about our ministry helping guide abortion-minded women to choose life and to choose God, please go HERE for more info, or email me at vkaseorg@cities4life.com
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Joshua 14: 6-13
⁶ Now the people of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God at Kadesh Barnea about you and me. ⁷ I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land. And I brought him back a report according to my convictions, ⁸ but my fellow Israelites who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt in fear. I, however, followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly. ⁹ So on that day Moses swore to me, ‘The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children forever, because you have followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly.’
¹⁰ “Now then, just as the Lord promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the wilderness. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! ¹¹ I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. ¹² Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.”
¹³ Then Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as his inheritance.