I assume most of us have little treasures or keepsakes that we hold dear. A few years ago, I decided to share my little collection of music boxes with my two teenaged granddaughters. I set the music boxes out on a table and told the girls they each could choose one. I expected that each of them would happily pick one and cherish it forever because, if for no other reason, it was their grandma’s. To my dismay, neither of them really wanted a music box and politely declined. So much for sentimentality!
I figured out that those music boxes were not things that these modern young teens had personal experience with and, while the girls love me, they could not relate to my keepsakes. Maybe those music boxes are for older people.
I remember some discussions around that time in which the implication was that religious practices, too, were more for older people. Perhaps in my granddaughters’ immaturity, they preferred experiences that were more tangibly interactive on their level. With cell phones, computers, and so many sights and sounds at their fingertips, it seemed that taking time to savor or treasure something didn’t have the appeal it had for me who had not had all the hi-tech devices in my youth.