SCRIPTURE: Job 12:12 There is wisdom, remember, in age; and long life brings understanding. (NEB)
REFLECTION: When my mother called me on August 1, 1997 I asked her if she would write something for my daughter Sandy, a new mother. I was looking for some great-grandmotherly advice. She hemmed and hawed about being a first time mother over 50 years ago, and how she couldn’t relate to today's mothers “who have things so different. "There were no parent tips back then,” she said. “Our parents would say ‘this is the way we did it so you have to do it this way. There is only one way and it is right.’” She continued: “You don't know as much at my age as you did when you were 20. You realize at 75 you don't know a damn thing while at 20 you thought you knew everything.” But this message to my daughter doesn’t end here. Shortly before the conversation with my mother, my pastor husband was discussing the maturation “from milk to meat” scripture. He shared that one sign of a mature Christian is the recognition that “one is evermore less sure of what is right. Ethical and moral issues are not always black and white. Gray areas often outnumber black and white areas.” So Sandy, I present you with the wisdom and understanding from two long lives, your grandmother’s and your father’s. PRAYER: Lord, grant me the patience to develop the wisdom that comes as I mature in years. Let me learn from those more wizened than I. Amen. ---written by Carolyn | 
