Today’s article is another installment in Brother P.’s column, “Lessons From the Nursing Home.”

I work at a nursing home. I help people get moving, and that sometimes includes performing specific exercises with patients.

I recently had the opportunity to work with a gentleman who’d spent a lot of time as a professor before he retired. 

For years, people looked to this guy for the answers. So when I, a 45-year-old snot-nosed kid, tried to direct him in some exercise routines to increase his mobility, he did not like the role reversal. He would not perform the “childish exercises.”  He would rather stay how he was, with limited mobility, than have me direct what he should do.

That reminds me of something I really appreciate about our church.

I have seen many of the mature, seasoned brothers and sisters allow a young, starting-out brother or sister to teach a class, lead a seminar, or give a testimony. And rather than tuning out because of the immaturity of the speaker, people listen, open their ears, and try to discern what God may be saying to them.

May we never become so learned that we don’t listen. God may be using that young whippersnapper to speak to us. 

This article has undergone ministry review and approval.