Coming of Age
This blog is written by Thomas Morey.
Recently my wife and I were able to attend a SAGES UPCI Conference held in Branson Missouri. The goal of the conference was to bring seniors over 55 years of age together to fellowship, discuss and motivate ministry as it relates to the aging population within the UPCI ranks. The link https://www.upcisages.com explains how their goal is also to assist, motivate seniors to continue each one’s service in the Kingdom of God after retirement at their local church and district level or if desired as an AIMer (Assistant In Ministry) in the form of a foreign mission’s short-term assignment. These and other ministry options were mentioned to the attendees. During the several days conference we had worship time, my wife joined in the SAGES choir, and we heard from a number of well-known senior pastors and ministers on their experience of transitioning into the senior age years. We saw a lot of gray hair or missing hair while there. Another motivation for our attendance was to learn more about a twelve-day Mediterranean Cruise we plan on going on this fall that is sponsored by the SAGE team. This is very exciting to us in that my wife and I have never ventured this far from home together for this long. This is stepping into the unknown for us!
From the Google definition of a “sage” perspective, I found this. “In a biblical context, a sage refers to a wise person, often a mentor in spiritual and philosophical matters, known for profound wisdom and judgement, and respected for their insight and experience.” My first question I need to ask myself is if that is the definition do I fit all these characteristics to allow me to be called a sage? This is rather terrifying to answer at first thought or glance. Just wait a minute, as I look back on my life. I just finished raising my kids and sending them off to start their own lives and then I would retire. Let me catch my breath and rest a while! Well, no time for that! Ok, next stage in life is a new stage without the “t”. Move from this stage to sage :). That may be a play on words and a quick slight of hand by God but that’s how it seemed to happen or………….did it?
Tom Morey, 1955-56
As a young child
We all are given a life commodity when we are born. TIME! Let’s spend it wisely for some have more and some less. What does it mean when we say come of age? I think it means that you have aged long enough to do what God created you to do and that is to use all your mental and physical abilities to growup and serve him.
As a young boy my parents were the influencers in my life. How they trained me and treated me formed my outlook on life. They trained by doing and showing the work themselves first. The next step was to have me do and learn alongside them to get the skill necessary to help plant the garden, hoe the pickles feed the calves, milk the cows or drive the tractor. If their treatment of me was harsh and overbearing with no God influence, I probably would be angry, bitter and resentful the rest of my life. Fortunately for me I was raised in an environment of loving parents, all be it they were stern disciplinarians. If you were to read a good bit of my earlier blogs authored some from my mother Helen Morey, you would get a good sense of how I and my siblings were raised on the farm in Waupaca Wisconsin. So more on this, coming of age is a journey that has a lot of twists and turns and experiences as we all know.
We worked mostly together as a family unit to accomplish the work on the farm. We all worked outside in the fields, we all ate together at regular mealtimes and all ate the same food set on the table. One thing I remember is you did not leave any food on your plate, nor did we leave the table hungry. I did find that many times I had worked alone as I grew older so the experience of getting things done on my own had its upside and its downside. I feel that it would have been much better for me to work alongside my brothers. Relying on your own strength does not allow you to sharpen the natural skills as quickly. I’m not saying my skill level and knowledge could have been influenced by the way I worked alone to get things done on the farm , but doing things alone forced you to turn on creative thinking. Understand that I help and received help doing my chores on the farm and that getting things done on my own was necessary training to accomplish things with my own strength, knowledge and skill later in life.
I remember during the cold, sometimes below zero outside winters, when I was out in the barn tasked with cleaning the barn or feeding the cows in the barn. Fortunately, the inside barn was warmed by the body heat of all the animals to a reasonable temperature to well above freezing. This feeding required the skill of climbing a silo ladder, crawling into the silo and using a hand pitchfork to toss the silage out the access door down the long silo shoot into the waiting silage cart below that would be rolled around to feed the cows that were stanchioned in two long lines and pens to feed them morning and evening. Then came grain feed that was tossed into a grain cart and was then carried to each of the cows to be given before the milking. After the milking which is a story for another time you were then tasked to go above into the hay mow and toss bales of hay in the hay shoot to the floor be below. There the bails would be broken open and the hay kicked into the manger to finish the feeding cycle. All this required a certain amount of skill and patience along with an understanding the chores had to be done by a certain time in the evening before you could head back to the house to end the day. At the time I did not value the mundane simple tasks I was given as a child. The work I was given certainly did not require any brain power but patience when working with the animals. Treatment of all the farm animals with care was very important. The farm animal depends on the care of the farmer, so they are treated well fed with nutritional feed and kept safely inside the pasture and barnyard. At the time I didn’t think of it as a training ground, but it was. As I grew, I learned some simple skills of working on farm equipment, taking things apart in the shop, fixing things in Dad’s machine shed, or just learning what to do alongside my father or brother. See pictures below.
Bible Examples
David of the Old Testament came of age by learning on his own also. We find that God left David out with the sheep to watch for them, caring for them in the field and allowed him time to learn how to tend and lead sheep on his own. God was letting him come of age to be the next warrior. First, he had to learn to tend sheep, care for the lambs, fight off a bear and a lion. He needed to hone his sling throwing skills and his harp and “singing praise to God” skills. From all this we find a man that wrote Psalms, worshipped God, killed giants and fought against armies of enemies including his nemesis king Saul. From this he became known by God as a Man after his own heart. I am sure that David as a young man when given the care of his father’s sheep had no idea God was preparing him for his kingdom.
What does life’s learning experiences and training all have in common? They all require time to develop and for David some alone time with Jehovah God. He learned some difficult lessons while out in the Judean wilderness. Some people have called it the school of hard knocks.
I am concerned about our younger hi tech age of children and young adults who have not had the same learning experience as David or myself. Are all their abilities developed such they are ready to take on life with all its challenges? Lots of questions to ask of the younger generation but I believe we should give them a chance to have a good learning experience. We need to be a mentor and a teacher just as we were mentored and taught. When we come beside them and train them new skills. That is the essence of Wisdom. Knowledge and understanding in harmony with duties.
How wonderful to be wise, to analyze and interpret things. Wisdom lights up a person’s face, softening its harshness. Obey the king since you vowed to God that you would. Don’t try to avoid doing your duty, and don’t stand with those who plot evil, for the king (GOD) can do whatever he wants. (Ecc 8:1-3)
The wisdom literature in the Old Testament (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes) when reliability on self alone is not wise but our reliance should be with God first and everything will work out. Does that sound too good to be true? Is that just fairy tale thinking? If you are fortunate enough to be a born-again Christian, you have God on your side. He is working for you and wants the best in this life for you! Look at the bible. Sixty-six books of the bible that offer to you and I a knowledge of who he is and what he wants of our life when we serve him. They are loaded with all the promises of God if you serve him with your whole heart.
I did not comprehend the real impact God would have on my life until I had some experiences and years behind me. Mostly pleasant but some unpleasant experiences. So, we know that as life moves along, and we come of age in whatever stage we are in that we have an assurance he cares of us and will never leave us or forsake us. How great is that.
Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. (Psa 37:3-5)
Tom Morey, Author / Minister / Engineer/ Retired