The Gift of Age
September 29, 2009
Yesterday was my 45th birthday. Gosh, I remember when people who were 45 were “old people” to me. I’m being quite reflective today. Maybe it’s because I’m exhausted. (5 hours of sleep last night) I’m thinking I should tell you it was because I partied like a youngster, but that wasn’t it. I simply stayed up.
These are my reflections on “The Gift of Age.”
When I look in a mirror and see the gray hairs that have become unpluckable, sometimes I choose to be sad over lost youth, but more often than not, I make a conscious decision to be content – no, not content, joyful, with where I am. When I look at a face that has aged, wrinkles, sagging jowls (oh that’s just gross), and skin that seems to succumb to gravity on a daily basis, I choose to see the life that has lived beyond the aged face and the gray hair. I’m not even going to mention the other things that sag and plump.
The things I’ve learned most recently:
To be bitter leaves a yucky taste in the lives of people you meet. I choose to be sweet. (Even though there are times I want to kick some serious booty)
The only way to love is unconditionally. If I place conditions on the love I give to others, then I will focus on the conditions, and not on the love. I choose unconditional!
To receive can sometimes be better than to give. I don’t turn away blessings. If someone wants to bless me – I choose to receive. This was a hard lesson for me to learn.
There are no idle words. Even the most innocent of comments can ruminate in someone’s mind. Words have tremendous power. I choose that my words will bless those who read or hear them.
Speaking of words. The most important words I speak are the ones I speak to and about myself. My own words have the power to build up or tear down – me. I’ve stopped being my own worst critic and became my personal cheerleader. If I make a mistake, my words remind me that I’m human and now better. No more beating myself up with my words. I choose to speak life giving words to myself.
Humility is not the opposite of confident. I can be confident and humble at the same time. This was revolutionary thinking for me. I choose to force a spirit of confidence – even when I don’t feel confident.
I think – therefore I am. That’s one of those great philosophical statements. It’s one that I have taken further though. My thought life is what separates me from every other person on the planet. No one thinks like me. Wow! I’m unique. And the really cool thing about the thought life is that I can create who I am with my thoughts. With my thoughts I can choose the paths I walk. I choose to walk on the path of success in all areas of my life. If my thoughts don’t line up with that, then the body in which I live, will eventually follow the path I think.
The enemy has come to steal, kill, and destroy, but Jesus has come to give life, and life abundantly. I could focus on what I have lost, what satan has destroyed, but then, he would have won. That simply doesn’t work for me. I choose to focus on the one who gives life.
So, with the gray hair and wrinkles that have come with age, the true gift is that I am truly living. What a gift!
Comments
3 Responses to “The Gift of Age”
Got something to say?
Ignite the Fire – Available AGAIN!
Ignite the Fire is available once again for immediate download. My much sought after homeschool book is now available online only for download to your own computer.
Buy Now
Be my Fan?
“It is the lines in a persons face that lets us know how much they have laughed, considered carefully, grimaced in their lifetime.” Leonard Koren
I remember when I was about twenty-three, talking to a woman who must have been in her forties (as I am now). She told me I was beautiful. I thanked her but explained that while it was possible for me to be pretty, I could not achieve full beauty until I had grown a little older and my face showed a few lines and wrinkles–the signs of wisdom. True beauty, I told her, can only be born of experience.
I feel vanity creep into my thought process regularly, and I sometimes long for my youth. Reading this today reminds me that I can still be beautiful.
Happy Birthday! Here is an exerpt from a recent post on my blog http://womanwifemomme.blogspot.com/ that ties into aging: Fall is my favorite season! I akin the seasons to life’s cycle and considering I’m in the second half of my 40′s, I would venture to say that I am living in what is the Fall season of my life. I want to experience it with the same wonder and zeal that I feel from it’s crisp,cool breeze and it’s beauty unfolding before my eyes.
WomanWifeMomMe on Twitter
While “aging” seems to bring to mind the thought of new physical aches, pains, and limitations, I feel only joy as I consider the result of growing in maturity. The longer I live, the more experience I have in seeing the faithfulness of God. Today is a new day, and I can say, “Hmmm… Another day where He has not failed me. That makes 17135 days in a row!”
There are some physical evidences of growing maturity that are painful, but there are others that are only painful if we choose to take them that way. I feel in some ways that I earned every gray hair I have, and I display that gray with joy: seeing it as it is described in scripture as a crown of glory.
Bring it on! The best is yet to come!