Somewhere along the way I became part of the older generation. I'm not sure just when (or for that matter how) it happened, but it did. And it's not a bad thing. In subtle ways it adjusts the way one looks at the world. Now, for example, when I pass a senior citizen driving too slowly down the road, my criticism is interrupted by the realization that the old dude might be younger than me. Any doubt that I belong to that venerable "older generation" disappeared four months ago when I began discovering the joys of being Grandpa. For all of my life "grandpa" has been a guaranteed identifier of someone who's a part of that older generation. Now I am there -- and it is good.There are, however, responsibilities attached to being part of the older generation. Scripture repeatedly exhorts people like me to be sure that we are passing on what is important to those who are what we used to be - the younger generation. In the words of Asaph, "we will tell the next generation the praisworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done." (Psalm 78:4)
One of my valued gifts this last Christmas is designed to help me live up to that responsibility. It's a journal that with a specific question each day invites Grandpa to share his memories through the year. There is a lot to like about this gift. Memories are valuable things that should serve as prompts to thanksgiving and worship. Simple things like recalling the places I have lived triggers memories of the kind of things Asaph was talking about, those praiseworthy deeds of the Lord and the wonders he has done.
Writing those memories down is a good thing. Memories, after all, can be fragile things as well. With seven decades behind me, I recognize the possibility that by the time Mateo gets around to asking those questions, I may not be able to answer them. We're only a month into the year, and I'm not quite up to date with that journal. But I'm going to keep jotting stuff down in the hope that one day that journal will become even more valuable to this little guy than it is to me today.