Slide to Unlock

Every iPhone has the key phrase of access on the main screen -
"Slide to Unlock". 

In other words:

Swipe to enter. 

Run your finger across, left to right - to get in. 

It's a right of passage to access the smart phone world.

I drove past a playground in town, watching kids running, skipping and sliding down slides. The best view was a grandmother getting ready to let gravity take her slightly plump body down the kids' slide. I stopped to watch this. Jumping all around on the ground were three happy ecstatic children, convulsing IN the moment, shouting up to their grandma,
"Go, grandma! GO! You can do it! You can do it!"

Without too much coercion, grandma pushed her large-framed body away from the hand railings and plummeted down the slide to the end. Awaiting her were three beaming children, unconscious with laughter and hugs, screaming,
"Do it again, grandma! Do it again!"
She picked herself up off the ground, laughing and said,
"Oh my, I'm not as young as I used to be! I don't know if I can do it again.... but I'll try."

While I was watching this scene, I was also replaying a similar scene in my head of years ago. It's such irony to be totally present in the present, but sometimes reflecting and looking back - all at the same time.

Slide to unlock the joy. 
Slide to unlock the laughter. 
Slide to unlock the memories..
Slide to unlock the mystery of the gospel.

You'll have full access to the kingdom, when you slide to unlock the child within you.

Matthew 18:3
The Message
 2-5 For an answer Jesus called over a child, whom he stood in the middle of the room, and said, "I'm telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square one and start over like children, you're not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in. Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God's kingdom. What's more, when you receive the childlike on my account, it's the same as receiving me.

Grandma, Get Your Groove On!

The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been. ~Madeleine L'Engle Oh, how I love this quote by a truly great writer.. This is why it's so CRUCIAL to have our mature and aging generation an integral part of evangelical, inspirational, corporate worship and ministry endeavors within the church. To exclude them, is like spiritual euthanasia. And one day, if you ignored them or made them invisible in your ministry as a leader, be assured - you'll be a part of the very group you once excluded. And very lonely, I might add..

I felt this strongly this morning, as I could barely get out of bed! You see, yesterday I did enough yard work - cutting of shrubbery, tree limbs, pulling weeds, mowing the lawn that my fifty-five year old body said to me, "OK, you are older now. You aren't able to do as much as you used to!" (or so it seems!) This, however, didn't affect my mind, spirit or passion one bit! I still am ME, whether my new hair growth (gray-haired roots!) blind you, or if I can't do the walkathons I used to do, or hike the mountains in a frivolous trot! I'm still a viable, loving contributor to this race we call human.

So, with that thought tucked in my back pocket today, I continue to empower, build up and utilize the giftings of those of you who are considered to be (like me!) in the "aging" group! We need you now more than ever, especially as the mass exodus of seniors stay home from church on Sunday mornings. I've been told they feel they aren't needed anymore or aren't relatable to the new generation. Heaven, I believe, has a whole different and widening concept on that belief system. It's sad that we earthlings think we know better.....than God.

(The picture above is my Aunt Sara, my grandmother Hilda, my great-grandmother Elizabeth, and my eleven year old mother, Naomi. This was not only family, it was community.)