Elders Bring God’s Wisdom

Today’s reading: 1 Samuel 3:1-10

Since about the time I was a teenager (in the 1980’s) technology has turned our society upside down. These days younger generations are now far too often the teachers.

I have long felt honored when my older friends have called upon me to help them make sense of their computers, telephones and cameras. But these calls also usually leave me feeling a little sad: God’s will is, actually, for me to learn from them.

Today’s reading is a reminder of that.

Of course Samuel needed Eli to help him recognize God’s call.  Youth carries with it a spiritual blind spot. And this weakness can be overcome only by the experience of years. This is a universal truth that mankind has recognized for centuries.

Until about 1980, that is. (Well, the transformation probably really started with the rebelliousness of the ’60’s, but technology helped solidify Youth Rule some 20 years later.)

Though modern society often follows a different tradition,  I must never forget that my elders usually have much to teach me. (Though I must be careful. “Usually” is the key word. Satan has now had several generations to thoroughly infiltrate our youth-led society. Even the advice of elders, these days, can lead one astray from God.)

A great woman from my youth comes to mind. My best friend’s mother was so committed to her faith that she rarely missed an early morning celebration of mass. While I’ve not seen her in years, I hear that she is still healthy and active — and can still be found at a mass service most mornings.

I need to stop by her church to join her one day.  Afterward, I think I’ll treat her to breakfast and see if she’ll talk to me about her wonderful children — all of whom I count among the greatest people I’ve known. I am particularly eager to hear how she raised them with such grace and beauty after her husband died at an early age. Maybe she’ll tell me about her husband too.

This is just one of the many ways I need to put into practice the same lesson that Samuel learned. I must glean as much as I can about God from the many Eli’s in my life.

“Therefore Eli said to Samuel, ‘Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’ So Samuel went and lay down in his place. Now the LORD came and stood there, calling as before, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ And Samuel said, ‘Speak, for your servant is listening.'” (Verses 9-10)

Thanks be to God for my elders and all of His wisdom they have to share with me. May I always remember to ask for it.