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The Unseen

 

I was shopping yesterday and was pondering on the ‘target audience’ of the supermarket. I go to this supermarket as it has the best prices and I have shopped there for years. Indeed, when I retired I shopped around and found it still has the overall best bottom line for my weekly shop!

However, the deli no longer serves salads or meats where you can choose the best size for you. Now they are sold in huge family packs! The fresh fish is also in packs rather than being able to select one fillet the size you require.

They also often have great deals on the larger sizes of items such as soap powder, packs of soap and breakfast cereals. However, even though they may work out cheaper they are still beyond my budgeted amount for the item plus would take up too much room in the cupboards. I wonder with amusement how long it would take for us to get through them. I also wonder if the older demographic is simply not seen as important enough to cater to or are simply ‘unseen’. I guess the bottom line is profit!

The dearer supermarket down the road so far offers the opportunity for me to buy my three pieces of cold meat for a lunchtime sandwich, a small salad and my one fillet of fish. So I do my big shop in one supermarket and pop into the other for those few things. I wonder how long they will offer this service.

It is easy as we age to feel overlooked, unimportant, or unseen. Often our voices are not heard simply because we are older. I found at the job I worked at for around 24 years, that once your hair turned grey and you needed glasses or hearing aids (and being a woman didn’t help), it was as if we were suddenly stupid. I wonder if anyone else has had that experience.

I am here to tell you the God values and loves you as much as all of His children, no matter how old you are. Scripture shows the importance of the older generation such as the following:

‘Wisdom is with the aged, and understanding in length of days.’ Job 12:12

‘Grey hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life.’ Proverbs 16:31

God also promises to sustain us as we grow older. So believe what God says, believe in yourself. You are needed in your communities, you are valued and you are loved. God bless you each.

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