My brother and I were mischievous teenagers. In our church were two retired missionaries but over the gulf of time I have no idea where their field of mission was. I think we were too young to realise that there was life outside our small town.
These two old ladies regularly attended every meeting, always sat together but at coffee times or meals they never volunteered to help. Whenever asked they had a stock reply, ‘No sorry, we’re resting awhile.’ No doubt they felt by being missionaries they had done their service for the Lord.
I’ve now learned that older people need to rest, but Christians never retire, they can still serve in many ways. Our church has just started a Prayer Warriors group. Anyone over 70 is automatically in this group and can serve the Lord by praying for the needs of the church.
My brother and I nicknamed these two ladies ‘Rest’ and ‘Awhile’ but we could never agree which was which.