"A long time ago, but not long ago ..." he said. We studied together in Sunday school. At 26, I was the one who taught. At 71, he was the one who was learning.

The group was composed of young people, adults, and the elderly. We took home a material study and take notes, and we met once a week to enrich each other on the subject learned. At the end of the class, we had a short written test.

The young people asking, the adults answering, and -in the beginning- the elders in silence. Elders who wanted to learn the truth of the gospel; who humbly decided to listen to the 26-year-old young adult in charge. They did not want to talk first, or say anything until someone else had already done it.

I was confused. I wanted to treat them like the others. At first I thought maybe they did not have a participatory attitude. The written exams were the most complicated for them: they stayed until the end with the blank page, without answering.

I shared my observations with another teacher, and he encouraged me to find a better way to help them. I started to apply their exams orally, meeting with a group of only seniors and seniors.

Walking with purpose

I realized that in reality they were not only learning the truth of the gospel, but also sharing it. They talked about her mainly at home, with their children and grandchildren, with their daughter-in-law and son-in-law. You could see that proclaiming what they were learning about God filled them with vigor and strength. Their children said they saw in their parents a new desire to live.

When God is the purpose of your life, the path is truly full of goals and meaning ... no matter how old you are. These elders found in the gospel of Jesus Christ the reason not to waste their life simply by sitting in a rocking chair. They listened to the mission that God has and to which he invited them to participate.

They had lived for themselves, for sports, school, work, children and grandchildren. They had experienced the pleasures of this world. But they recognized that all this was vanity, meaningless, without value. They lay outside their house in a rocking chair, under a tree, trying not to disturb the next generation.

But God, who chose them before the foundation of the world, granted them the repentance. And they are no longer just waiting for the time to leave: they are investing every minute that remains to carry the truth of the gospel to wherever they go. Some while selling fruits, others while caring for their family, others who do not leave hospitals, others who run groups for the elderly. In each of these places, they live for an eternal purpose.

The past time is enough

That 71-year-old man was just beginning to live. I said, "A long time ago, but not long ago, you lived a totally different life." He smiled, hugged me, and went on his way.

As the apostle Peter said, "For the time already past is sufficient for them to have done what pleases the Gentiles," 1 Peter 4: 3.

Let us live then the time remaining by his grace for the will of God. It does not matter if you are young or old; as long as you are alive you can do God's purpose on this earth, as long as you surrender your will to his.