FOREIGNER at HOME

Dear WTG: I’m in my seventies, and lately I have begun to feel like a foreigner in my own country. Culture is moving away from all the things I hold most dear. Folks aren’t going to church anymore, and they seem to be very impolite to one another. Arguing online with people you don’t even know has replaced decency and neighborliness. Music and TV shows are crass and crude. I don’t understand technology, and when my grandkids talk it’s like they are speaking another language. I feel out of date and for the first time in my life…old. And this world no longer feels like my home anymore. Is this a natural part of aging, or is there something…anything…that I can do?  Signed: AFRAID I’M IRRELEVANT

Dear AFRAID: Fear is certainly not related to age. I heard a speaker recently say that, “Every person in the world is desperately insecure.” This insecurity masks itself in many different ways. Some use false bravado, some throw themselves into achievement, some avoid situations where they may look bad, and the list goes on and on. Ironically, most need to do what you just did, which is to admit that we cannot control the world. You mentioned that you go to church, so you know there is someone a lot bigger than you whom you can trust…your creator. So, pray a lot and trust in the Lord who is greater than any situation we face in this world. And you will then discover that “home” is not so much a place, but a person…God himself, who reveals his love for you in Jesus Christ our savior.