The cloak of Invisibility....

Have you seen the cloak of invisibility?
It isn't by choice or desire. You have no idea it's coming until... you are wearing it and can't seem to untangle from it.
Stuck like glue.
It's not clever. It doesn't help you solve mysteries or get away with murder.

It simply makes you invisible.
To many of those around you.

A few years ago I first heard about the invisibility cloak, from two people I love. Very much.
They were attractive.
They were well dressed.
They lived in a nice house.
They helped people.
They smiled.
They were in their seventies.

They told me they felt invisible, because of their age.
Younger generations walked by them, like they were invisible. 
They were hurt.

The two I speak of were vibrant, yet still felt hit in the stomach with this age related curse.
What about the folks sick, alone, without faith, hope or community?
My stomach went tight.
I knew this occurred to people... at certain ages.
An age related disease no one talks about.
These two did.
It broke my heart.
I felt fear, for me.
Honest.

How many suffer this disease?
Feeling... inferior, unworthy, valueless, abandoned, insignificant.
Because of a slower gait, wrinkles that tell stories, a birth year.
Our world holds little value of older generations.

The ones full of wisdom, stories.
The ones who worked hard without complaint, went to war, suffered the Depression, without depression.
The ones who didn't have a name or a drug to explain their behavior.
They tied up their boots, or heels and got to work.

Now they sit in hard chairs, some unable to care for themselves. Others, fortunate enough to be able, help these friends. Most are lonely.
My friend, that will be you and I.... tomorrow.
I pray not.
I pray we remember where our value comes from... God.

Yet still, to grow old is not for the faint of heart.

Today as we travel our path, we may see someone wearing that cloak, the one that buries them in darkness. Pull it back, show them they are loved, valued, significant and have great purpose.

"Do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and with all propriety…” (1 Timothy 5:1-2).

  “You are to rise in the presence of the elderly and honor the old… I am the Lord” (Leviticus 19:32).  

“Listen to your father who gave you life, and don’t despise your mother when she is old” (Proverbs 23:22).

“Gray hair is a glorious crown; it is found in the way of righteousness” (Proverbs 16:31).