Psalm 1:1: Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
I don’t know if or how you have marked milestones in your life. Some of these are familiar to all of us and, in our culture, nearly universal. I didn’t wear a gown as a baby, and I missed wearing knickers and graduating to long pants, but I did get my driver’s license when I was 16, a de facto rite of passage for my time, and then there was high school and college graduation, my first “real” job teaching, marriage and children, and retirement.
Some of these markers, especially later in life, signaled the transition to maturity as best I could manage it, and sometimes I fought them. When I turned 45, AARP started sending me invitations to join, although I thought I had to be 50. At least that’s what they said, but they didn’t really mean it. I was irritated by this reminder that I was growing older, until Dave Cossey told me they had the best discounts around. My attitude changed dramatically with that.
I’ve noticed other less formal ways to mark milestones. There was the first time a cashier gave me a senior discount without my asking for it. In fact, I was a little under the age, but I never pass up a discount, so I took it without revealing my true nature.
After decades of opening doors for women and my elders, I found myself one day having a door opened by a young person. I looked around to see for whom he was opening the door, and then realized that my graying hair had betrayed me. I also find myself able to sit in the presence of others, after decades of giving up my seat to someone older. There are advantages to aging, after all.
Psalm 1:1 speaks of not consorting with those who do not know the Lord, sinners and the scornful, and it does this in terms of not walking, standing or sitting with them. I would suggest that, on the other hand, we are called upon to walk with God, to stand for what is right and just and to sit in mercy for those who have wronged us and with justice for those who have been wronged. This is what Jesus did, and we are to follow his example. And our walking and standing and even our sitting in this way will lead us to grow in Christlikeness. Praise God for sending Jesus to be an example and to die on the cross so that one day we will be able to stand in the presence of God Almighty. Amen.