What is a senior moment?

“SENIOR MOMENTS”

I was attending a presentation on Seniors Ministry when the speaker briefly lost his place and apologized to the class by saying, “Pardon me – I’m having a senior moment.”

Pat Malone, a leader in the Seniors Ministry at the Pleasant Ridge church in Arlington, Texas, promptly interjected, “It is NOT a ‘senior moment’ – it is an ‘intellectual interruption’”.  Pat said he first heard the phrase “intellectual interruption” used by a professor in her 30’s. The young woman explained that she preferred the phrase to describe those instances when she herself lost her train of thought, because all people, of all ages, have momentary lapses in focus.

I appreciated Pat’s good-natured clarification, as did the speaker, and the entire class gained a valuable lesson in the dangers of stereotyping.  But I believe the phrase “senior moment” can be a useful one, if it is applied correctly.  The Bible tells us that growing older is a blessing for the righteous (Proverbs 16:31).  If you are one of our older Christians, may I remind you of some worthwhile senior moments?

What about the beaming couple celebrating their fiftieth wedding anniversary?  That is a moment only a senior can savor.

How about the day you held your first grandchild in your arms?  Or your second?  Or third? Surely that experience is one of the greatest blessings of growing older.

Speaking of grandchildren, what about the privilege of witnessing them make their own confession of faith and be baptized into Christ?  Didn’t your heart burst with pride on that occasion?

Did you have mixed emotions when you reached the day you were finally able to retire, and you realized the weight and burdens of your job were now behind you?  Knowing your time is now your own, to do with as you please – and as pleases God – can be an exhilarating, disorienting, but ultimately rich senior moment. 

When the worship leader sings “Precious Memories,” many in the audience don’t have a clue what that phrase implies, but you do, and you smile as the hymn causes those happy memories to come flooding back.

When a wise elder puts his arm around the shoulder of a beginning preacher and, drawing from the well of wisdom accumulated during a lifetime of Christian service, gives the young man some friendly, life-transforming advice, that surely qualifies as a senior moment.

What about the hours you and your spouse spend browsing through your family’s photo album? Or the first time one of your children insists on picking up the check at the restaurant?  Or the day you finally paid off your mortgage?  

These are just a few of the joyful experiences that only a senior can savor.  May you be blessed with a long life and many wonderful “senior moments”!

-Dan Williams