See the Forest
Wes Wick
If we’ve ever been blessed to have you in our home, you’re aware that we live in a Santa Cruz Mountain forest, surrounded by dozens of towering redwoods.
“No view.”
When we moved here from Southern California in ‘98, we couldn’t help but laugh as we reviewed one response in our miracle home’s appraisal, authoritatively declaring ‘no view’.
Our majestic redwood trees block our view. Who knew? Apparently, our appraiser couldn’t see the forest for the trees.
Merriam Webster defines this idiom as: “to not understand or appreciate a larger situation, problem, etc., because one is considering only a few parts of it.”
Our focus on adults over 55 covers many life stages, triggering some bewilderment: WHAT does a 55-year-old have in common with a 95-year-old?
When you add our intergenerational ministry emphasis across all ages, it too plays with people’s minds. WHAT interests do teenagers and adults in their seventies share?
Some might be quick to respond in a way reminiscent of our viewless appraisal: ‘No common areas of interest’.
Maybe the ‘WHAT’ question leads us astray. As fellow Christians we might do well to first start with WHO we have in common. From that wellspring alone, we have many connecting points.
Towering trees and older adults: Both have journeyed for scores of years around the sun. What a mistake to treat them as obstructions!
They, too, are an incredible part of the view…and can us inspire us as we together trek around that same sun.
The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God.
They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, “The Lord is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”
Psalm 92:12-15 (NIV)