Good evening brethren and happy Sabbath!

Unusual words

I love unusual words. Defenestration for example. It means throwing something out of a window. Hottenanny is another. It’s colloquial (another fun word!) term for a get together of folks usually involving singing and dancing.  Not words we get to use very often, but really fun to pull out and use now and then!

Another unusual word we don’t use very often is hoary.  It means something that is silverish and whitish and is probably most often used to describe a very light frost on a cold morning.

Unusual word, profound statement

In Leviticus 19:32 (KJV) we read, “Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the Lord.” We often summarize this as ‘honoring the hoary head,’ or being respectful to our elders.

This isn’t just a suggestion from God, it’s a command - and for good reason: Those hoary heads contain a lot of valuable wisdom!

How to show honor

There are lots of ways to show honor to our seniors. Maybe it’s giving up your seat for them, helping them around the house, or just picking up the phone to say hi. 

Perhaps the best way to honor them though is to not just talk, but listen and learn from their precious years of experience. When we do this, we not only honor them and this command, but we show honor, respect and fear of the Lord.