PLEASANT PARK

Earlier today I was reading "Finding the Heart to go On" by Lynn Anderson. The book is a fascinating study of biblical King David. In chapter 12 "Aging with Class" Lynn describes what happened to David after he was told by his lifetime warriors that he was too old to continue fighting in the army. He was 60 years old when they sent him home from the battlefield. 

I liked Lynn's comment, "David was not sent home because his usefulness was over. Rather, David's men sent him home because of his usefulness. He had become too valuable to risk losing in battle. And when David arrived home, he began dreaming bigger dreams than ever before. 

Since bible times a lot of examples have been left by others:

• Ronald Reagan turned 70 seventeen days after entering the office of President.
• Toscanini was 87 and still directing a symphony orchestra. 
• Edison was busy in his lab at 83. 
• Benjamin Franklin governed Pennsylvania at 79. 
• Winston Churchill led Great Britain at 76. 
• Albert Schweitzer was still a practicing missionary at 90. 
• Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote most of the stories which became TV's Little House on the Prairie during her 72-90 age years.
• Cecil B DeMille produced the movie Ten Commandments at 87.
• Grandma Moses decided at 76 she was bored with knitting and took up painting. 
• Michelangelo created Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome after he was 70.

Lynn continues, "I dream of a special kind of PLEASANT PARK under an atrium, featuring alcoves and chairs and tables. Old and young meet here. At all hours of the day. older people are available to the younger who come streaming in exuding energy but needing spiritual resources. The young discuss work, marriage, children, heartache and money. They come asking for resources to confront temptation, loneliness, and suffering. The young want to hear the seasoned person talk about death and doubt. 

Something like this PLEASANT PARK could turn our culture right side up.