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Good Senior Moments

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It was definitely one of the most encouraging days of my year. Last Saturday I attended my first ever Senior Day with the folks in God’s family in Henderson, Tennessee. The day began at 9:30 with registration and coffee and at 10:00 we all went to the auditorium for about thirty minutes of singing praises. Since there was a big crowd and thirty congregations of God’s people represented, and Robert Hatfield was leading the singing…well, it was a foretaste of heaven. Then Glenn had the chance to talk to a most attentive and eager audience about Seven Groups of People Seniors Can Encourage: elders, discouraged people, children, missionaries, sick people, young couples, and people who are lost. He gave very specific and practical ideas to these seniors…like buying 500 note cards and determining to write encouraging notes in all of them and have them all sent out before you leave this world…or finding a teen in the congregation and becoming his/her friend by going fishing with him or going shopping with her, so that you will then be able to talk with him/her about spiritual growth that may be needed…or adopting your own personal missionary to whom you write and to whom you make occasional contributions when you are able.

After this lesson, we all went to a large gathering area and ate together while we visited and then listened to a double barbershop quartet perform old classics. That was great fun. Then we sat around those tables and sang a while more. Then Robert Hatfield, who is in his early twenties, talked for about five minutes about what the elderly people in the room meant to Him. He spoke in very encouraging tones, taking his text from one of the Psalms. Then Glenn spoke again for about five minutes and the final prayer concluded the day’s activities around 12:30.

The most contagious spirit of cooperation and optimism was the best part of the day. Everyone was excited and smiles and hugs were everywhere you looked. These senior Christians were obviously where they wanted to be and they were there to soak up every idea. You could tell, not just from their words, but from the intent manner in which they listened and the excitement on their faces that they were going to implement the ideas that were not already a part of their lives. In general, they made me want to be just like them “when I grow up.”

I’m impressed when we have youth days with the enthusiasm of our teens. But I do believe these seniors exhibited an even greater attitude of service than I usually see from our youth. I believe the attendance was better than at most youth days. I believe they sang with more fervor and visited with more friendliness.

I think we should have more of these senior days. I believe they arrived with eagerness and left with resolve. Now, when they do the things they decided to do, thirty congregations are going to grow. And those teens in those churches are going to grow, too, because these godly older people are going to love and mentor them.

One more thing…I’m not really old enough yet to be at a Senior Day. I just came with the speaker.

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