UNITING Young and Old

1918.  She was born.  Nearly a century old smile.  Peaking at us.  Through the cracked door.  Depression.  WWII.  Famines.  Immigrating to the west….unhindering her.

Pale blue eyes.  Still sparkling.  Like my six year old, cautiously walking into the room.  Where electric chair, strolls up meet to her.

Distant in age.  Race.  Life experience.  Unthought of barriers, not keeping us apart.

Thinned skin hands reach out for the pink flowing dress of my Innocent One.  Recalling the layers, petticoats, and bows.  She once carefully sewed, for her daughters.

And it seems like I was just a child.  When my grandma, her same age.  Her neighbor. Her friend. Died.  

Still, this ninety-four year old neighbor, living many lifetimes. Her eyes dance, with joy. Friend.  Grandma-like figure.  Wrapped up in an unexplained, four generations long relationship, our family has had with hers.

And isn’t it God who UNITES strangers?  After fifty years, four generations later, families still not separating?

Her and my grandma.  Neighbors, raising children.  Now, her grand-daughter and me.  Friends.  Heart sisters though we live in two states.  Separate.  And then, our children.  Still teenagers.  Texting like best of friends. Though there is no blood relation.

God sent.  Family.  Sharing over fences.  Recipes.  Politics.  Religion.  Until fences couldn’t hold hearts.  And lines of property dissolved the walls.  And made our two families one.

And I wonder what, a nearly century old wisdom sharer can teach us, this day.  Remembering stories of milking cows at 5:30 in the morning, though her husband was only eight.  And how blessed it is, to learn the ways….

Of humble.  Heart full.  Strong in character, unwavering aged ones.  Unchanging at the trend-setting revolving door of people, who too often end up, false, in this identity-less world.

Elderly people’s lives, more often, remaining constant.  Like rocks.  Never moving.  Unwillingly changing mission.  Lives unshaken by turmoil, hardships, pain, or suffering.

God, the force feared, not estranged from. As a result, God and man. Having no walls, keeping them.  Apart.

And could that be it?  Why people became family. Friends. “One”, so much more simply. UNITED. In generations before us? Willingly. Coming together.  Under His umbrella.  Almost effortlessly?

Is it genuine people, seeking a genuine God, that leads us to genuine relationship with other people….regardless of who they are?

And I look at my little one.  Sparkling eyes dancing with hers.  There in the confinements of that care-taking room.

Hearts blend easily as one. When we let God crush the walls of division in all of us.

And it isn’t until Wise One asks Little One to sing a song….That I truly feel the UNITY of that moment.  I sense the presence of a God who made us family….Long before we met.

She starts in.  Simple.  Pure. With a voice.  Unshaken.  Intimately in connection with the God who has helped her endure so much…..

And this hymn of childhood UNITES us even more.  Four generations in that room.

And we sing on.  High pitched Innocent One.  Me.  My mom.  And our heart friend who we are and will forever be one with.

Longing for this glue of the words of this children’s tune, to be the “Kumbaya” of a global harmony.  Black. White.  Rich. Poor.  Neighbors. Friends. Even enemies.

And it is in this knowing. This old one and little child’s voice taking up harmony.  That true love grows wings and flies.  Ever freely.

This knowing.  Truly knowing.  That a good God loves me…loves us….That ninety-four year old widows.  Adopted daughter.  Four generations.  Yes, all of us….really….Become family.  Become blood.  Truly UNITING.

Because it’s not in trying to do “good”…..UNITING happens.  It’s in the loving.  This God-love that glues even the most unlikely people, close….like family.

Yes, that is what I want around me.  People finding love & being drawn to His goodness.  A goodness that causes voices to rise singing.  Wherever they are.

Because, isn’t the answer to it all, in the words we keep singing?…..