How can I finish well? Who is in my life to listen to and, in listening, to love?
How do I bring who I am to those who need my lifetime of wisdom and experience?
The Elder-Sage Stage characterizes men in their sixties and beyond whose legacies started long ago. These are their years of final repairs and final blessings. An elder-sage feels deeply the words of the Farmers Insurance commercial, “We know a thing or two because we’ve seen a thing or two.” elder-sages need kings and warriors—and kings and warriors desperately need them.
This is the season when a man is wanted for his wisdom, his experience, and his stories, particularly those that relate to the times and ways God has brought healing, validation, and initiation into his life. His kingdom is being passed on, handed over to a younger king or kings, bequeathed to the next generation. But his presence and his words must remain. An elder-sage’s strength lies in gracious counsel, wise and gentle. He knows that kindness is stronger than anger and that love is the most powerful force of all. An elder-sage is a father to many, and the way he draws near to God is the most attractive thing about his life.
“Encourage” is the motto of an elder-sage. More than an answer man, he is a listener, question asker, and storyteller. Indeed, he sees his chief job as listening well and, in partnership with God, offering healing, training, validation, and initiation to the next generation. He can because he has experienced all of these from and with God for his own heart’s restoration. An engaged heart is his greatest invitation to others, and stories are his most powerful weapon. You know you are with an elder-sage when he can look not only at you but also into you.
The elder-sage is cunning, a spiritual warfare veteran, dangerous for good. He is far from retiring from the battle; rather, taking a frontline position in the battle for the hearts of others. He has learned to watch, listen, and wait for God to open doors. He knows well the lowest seat at the table and prefers it, though he is seldom there for long. His stories are transparent, tales of both his regrets and his victories over a lifetime of learning how—and how not—to walk with God. His walk has in fact deepened to the point where he is a friend of God, and he lives with an orientation that invites and attracts other men to that same closeness with the Father.
All kings, warriors, and explorers need such a man in their life—an older man, an elder-sage who looks out for them; one who can listen, listen, and listen; and when it’s time, can share, comfort, pray, and tell the encouraging stories of God’s goodness in his life. Retire? Never. Not now, when all the years are paying off and wise counsel is the gift such a man has to offer; not when friendship with God and friendship with others makes the elder-sage, like George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life, “the richest man in town.”
As you ponder all this with God today, consider asking Him:
Father, where in my story have I enjoyed the benefits of an elder-sage?
Jesus, what in today’s devotion and scripture, do you want me most to focus upon?
Spirit, of all we have explored and ventured through in the Six Stages of the Masculine Journey, would you bring to my mind what you want me to take away from this plan? What stage do you want to focus on where I was wounded, and would you help me recover, overcome, and heal?
Scripture:
Proverbs 13:14 The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, turning a person from the snares of death.
Isaiah 46:4 Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.
Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose
