Treasure our older members

God blesses us with older adults. As I grow older, I treasure talking with the older members of my family and church, and I especially enjoy hearing the stories of their lives. There is so much to learn.

Our society is quick to put older people into retirement homes or nursing homes, where they can be cared for by others. Even 100 years ago, families cared for their ageing parents by bringing them into the family home of their children to be cared for and grow with the grandchildren. Jesus specifically tells us to care for the older adults, widows, orphans and infirm.

My mother is now 96. I treasure spending time with her, just talking and making meals for her and helping her with all the things that she did for me as a child. I especially enjoy hearing the stories of her life growing up on the farm in South Australia’s Barossa Valley, where she worked, as well as the struggles and hardships she endured.

For her 10th birthday, she received a chair so that she could now sit on it at the table rather than on a bench. At the age of 13, she went to work on a neighbouring farm as a maid to earn money and wasn’t allowed to eat with the family. Instead, she had to eat in the kitchen as a servant. My grandfather had compassion for her and sent her to Immanuel College in Adelaide, which changed her whole life. Mum looks back and praises God for her life – even the hard times!

If only we had the same attitude of praise to God! There is so much to learn from our older members, and children have much to learn from grandparents. Most of this requires listening. May God give us the time, patience and opportunity to just sit and listen.

Lutheran Tract Mission (LTM) has several resources for older adults to encourage and provide comfort, assurance and hope in our loving God. Explore the LTM website at www.ltm.org.au and search for ‘grandparents’ to find these resources.

God says: ‘I have created you and cared for you since you were born. I will be your God through all your lifetime, yes, even when your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and be your Saviour’ (Isaiah 46:3b,4).

Anne Hansen is Lutheran Tract Mission’s Tract Development Officer.