Hens and chicks

Five rectangle-shaped reading glasses, in different colors, were perched on five different noses, including my own.

That's what I noticed yesterday during Bible study with a group of seven women.

The other two ladies, without glasses, are young mothers and wives, their toddlers (one each) busy in play, the mothers' attention skillfully divided between their children and our study.

Us "oldies" are all about the same age, late 40s to mid-50s, with a wide range of life experiences. We commiserate with the younger, 20-something moms, and remember life at that stage. One of the young women is pregnant with her second child, and her husband is a student at the local university. The other is satisfied for now with her one child, and branching out into designing accessories again, which she did "before."

While we pondered over I Thessalonians, we laughed, shared our stories and experiences based on what we studied, dandled the children on our knees and handed them small, healthy treats.

It's strange to be in that place of being an older woman with 30 years of house-wifing and motherhood behind me. I don't feel that old, likely because I understand that there is still a lot to learn about life, love and other mysteries. My journey isn't over.

Yet I find that I am in a position to be an example, to offer advice, to help answer oh-so-many questions about raising children and living with a husband, in addition to scriptural principles I have learned, and am still learning.

I think of the Bible verse, Titus 2:3-5, "Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God."

There are older women I have met that make me cringe with their loud-mouth ways and garish outfits, who belittle their husbands, laugh about it and encourage others to do the same. There are also older women whom I admire and want to emulate with their sense of humor, loving ways to everyone, and honesty. My desire is to be the latter.

When we meet again next Tuesday, I will rejoice to wear my reading glasses, share my story, and bounce children on my knee while I listen and learn from older, and younger, women.