Last weekend as I sat waiting for my daughter in the local shopping centre, I was fortunate enough to be part of a most interesting conversation with two old ladies. Sitting right next to me, they chatted away about how pretty the Christmas decorations were, glistening and sparkling as frenzied shoppers weaved their way in and out of the shops. After a few mintues they told me that they had time to kill whilst waiting for their bus. I asked them if they had far to go.
“Oh yes, they replied and then went on to tell me they lived in a village which would take them two buses and about two hours to get there.
“You must like travelling” I responded. And again their resonse was
“Oh yes, we love it”.
Even though they must have been in their eighties, rather wobbly on their feet and somewhat bent over with the unkindness of the years, they had a lesson to teach us all. Their wrinkled expressions became animated as they revealed how they loved to visit Hull, not the most salubrious of places and certainly not somewhere one might expect two elderly ladies to want to travel three hours by three different public buses to get to. And yet, every few months, they don their most comfortable shoes, smartest coat and hat and head off on their escapade to Princess Keys in Hull. What is most remarkable is that although the journey to get there takes three hours, they only spend two hours in the shopping centre before they catch the next return bus. That’s a total of six hours on a public bus for two hours shopping! Intrigued, I asked them why they do it.
“We love to get out and about, see the countryside, look in the shops and spend time together. We’re planning to go to Eastbourne early next year.”
What a wonderful reply. They could have moaned about the state of their health, the current economical climate, and the cold weather. Instead, they had chosen to focus on what they could enjoy, where they might go and what they would do next. I decided, there and then, that I would share their tale with you as an example and an encouragement that even in old age, life can be fun, an adventure even. Despite their apparent ailments and limited mobility, they put some younger people to shame with their positive outlook and determind attitude.
As Christian woman shouldn’t we have an even greater attitude than these two. With Christ as our motivator, we have so much to be thankful for and enjoy. In him we are made whole, he gives us strength,and because of his grace we can indulge with him in the greatest love affair of all time! Even though we are surrounded by the media which portrays so much doom and gloom, why not choose to focus on our Saviour’s love instead?As the New Year approaches, perhaps you could use this story about these two remarkable old ladies to motivate you to live life to the max with Jesus Christ in 2012.