Indulge me, if you will, while I provide the following: Public Service Announcement

If you are 60 years of age or older you are part of Encore! Ministries. You do not have to join Encore! You are in because of your age. Yes, I know, you do not consider yourself old enough to be an older adult! If you were a kindergartner last year, you would be a first grader this year.  If you were 59 last year, you are now officially (according to FUMC Hurst) in Encore! However, before you get yourself all down in the mouth about it; let me assure you that there are multitudes of great reasons to be an older adult!

Let us consider some of the qualities that older adults tend to possess:

• They do not dwell on the things that really do not matter
• They are not afraid of imperfection in themselves or in others
• They live in the moment, meaning that they are fully present
• They are interested in the people around them
• They are keenly attuned to God’s presence and strive to live out their faith to the best of their mental, spiritual, emotional, and physical abilities
• They love without reservation
• They exhibit grace under pressure

Yesterday was the first Encore! Let’s Do Lunch of the fall season. I was not an official member of Encore! when I started serving at this church. I am very proud that I am now one of the older adults of FUMC Hurst. Not to mention the fact that I am now eligible to receive discounts at some area restaurants. Bonus!!

Now, back to yesterday . . . Where do I start? Let’s just say that the event was challenging (That’s a nice clean word, isn’t it?). A number of things seemed to be out of whack!

At the registration table, our Welcome Team inherited the task of reclaiming all of the registrations and payment information of the Christian Homebuilders Class. This was due to a sign-up envelope that had gone M.I.A. (Don’t worry…no money was lost in it.) Our Welcome Team handled all of this with their usual smiles and gentle humor.

We were having technology problems (Well, to be honest, that might have been me.) After all, our Tech Support person came by and explained how to set everything in order to accommodate the needs of our presenter, Dr. Jerry Hollingsworth (Burleson ISD). Let’s just say that I am a wee bit technologically challenged. (Okay. So maybe I’m seriously challenged in this particular area!) In spite of the tech deficiencies, Dr. Hollingsworth shared a number of exciting and enlightening concepts that our schools are using in the field of public education. He gave us many reasons to be optimistic about the future of this country that will be in the hands of these young students of today. They will benefit from the efforts of educators who are committed to providing the very best education for every child!

Then there was lunch . . . let me just say that I might have made a couple of different choices if I had it to do all over again. On the other hand, there were wonderful women from the Single Friends class who were very helpful with all aspects of serving the luncheon.

And the keys!  How could I forget the keys? Someone left their keys and I lost my keys! At this time, no one has claimed their keys from the church office. I finally found mine after much searching and gnashing of teeth! If you know me, you know that by the time I found them, I was hot, sweating on my forehead, thirsty, and cranky!

I have to wonder how I did in the middle of the mess. How well did I fair under pressure? What was my state of mind? What were my responses to others? What about my tendency to expect perfection? Did I live in the moment? Was I aware of God’s love, grace, and guidance as I spent time with the people I love?

If I am honest with myself, I know that I did not get it all right. I need to continue to learn from some of those I serve who are better at being intentionally faithful older adults than I am.

Whether I got everything right does not matter, though, because we spent the day, laughing, working, learning, praying and sharing a mess of a perfect day!