Dear Young Whippersnapper...
Monday, December 18, 2023
“Knowledge without experience builds a life without passion and conviction. It is when you teach from life experience that you teach with authority.” – Os Hillman
Oh, if I only knew then what I know now…
How many times have you said that to yourself? In my case, it happens with increasing frequency the older I get. After all, if you haven’t learned a few valuable life lessons by the time you are 64, you haven’t been paying much attention.
Like so many of my classmates and contemporaries, I am at the stage of life where I am exchanging my youth for wisdom, each and every day. Lacking the vitality of a teenager or a twenty-something, I can still apply some of that knowledge acquired in the “School of Hard Knocks.” However, I find more satisfaction sharing my insights with the next generation… and the one after that. I guess that’s why I enjoy working with at-risk youth so much.
My reasoning is simple: if I can help them avoid some of life’s pitfalls and pratfalls, maybe my stumbles and bumbles along the way can be of some benefit. If not to me, almost certainly to them.
Now whether they will listen and learn is another story altogether!
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” 2 Corinthians 4:16
“Remember the days of old; consider the generations long past. Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders, and they will explain to you.” Deuteronomy 32:7
“Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?” Job 12:12
“I thought, ‘Age should speak; advanced years should teach wisdom.’” Job 32:7
“Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come.” Psalm 71:18
- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President
