Pastor’s Corner: I’ll Try to Catch Up

August 16, 2017

Within the space of a few minutes this morning, I got to feel like I’d been born yesterday and like I was born at the dawn of time.

That’s not entirely unusual.

I learned a new abbreviation (Did you know that some people use “ISO” to mean “In Search Of”? I didn’t), which had me feeling like the rawest new learner on the planet. Simultaneously, not knowing it put me in the ranks of the folks who say, “Oh, dear, I’ve grown out of touch,” a lot. At this time of my life, it’s odd how many new things I learn make me feel both of these things: a babe in a new world, and an elder with more connections to the past than the present.

To be honest, I’m glad to have a foot in both camps.

Among youth’s blessings, I think, is a deep capacity for wonder, and wonder is a wellspring of joy. I hope I never lose a sense of amazement to see the blue sky, or feel the rain, or smell the flowers. As far as wonder is concerned, I intend to be young until I die.

Aging offers the possibility (not, alas, the assurance) of deepening wisdom. I do not discount the wisdom of the young, not for a moment (Jesus, after all, was twenty-one years younger than I at the close of his ministry)! There is no substitute for time, though, to accumulate new learnings, refine earlier understandings, and nurture the wellsprings of enlightenment. I hope to be wise when I die!

Be young, my friends, and be aging: young in wonder, and old in wisdom.

I’ll try to catch up.

Blessings,

Pastor Eric

Is not this view of Maui and Hawai’i Islands from the air one to encourage wisdom and inspire wonder? Photo by Eric Anderson.