...I would often see people anxious at the fact that they were getting older, often more in women. I never understood it and I didn't understand why asking someone's age was some how the forbidden question. Maybe because I was younger without a care in the world, frolicking through life that aging was never something that I felt threatened by. In fact, I remember being younger and trying to speed things up, wishing I had some of the privileges that older people had. It seemed like time was on my side.
Then, it hit me. All the sudden, time, the thing that we often take for granted, wasn't something that I could hold on to as tightly. I found myself and those that I love around me aging...and the angst crept up on me too. One day, I discovered two gray hairs (there's more hiding I'm sure) and things began to get a little weird. I became aware of the anxiousness I had heard others expressing; the reality that time is indeed passing.
Maybe you can relate; subconsciously, I begin to wish that time would slow down, just a little bit. It was sobering to realize that our time is limited and simultaneously, we are running out of it. I even felt like maybe I had wasted some time, wrestling with calculations I made up in my head of what I thought the sum of my life ought to be. In the midst of that, the weird part was that I felt as if my soul didn't age, but that time was simply speeding up as a danger to and a trap for my body...
I think aging is scary because the reality is that we don't get to live forever. But, that that is the wrong perceptive to live with, if we are to fully embrace our journeys here on earth. Life is a passage that we get to experience. Every day is a new journey that we get to live. That's why the Bible commands us to live each day with intentionality and joy. Psalm 118:24 is so intentional and I love it; it says, "This is the day that the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it." The only thing we have is the present, looking beyond that steals the joy of living in the present. Matthew 6: 25-27 instructs us not to worry about the future or our lives for that matter, because God already has our provisions in His hands. Age is time, age is breath, age is momentum that we're given, to continue this beautiful journey.
AGING GRACEFULLY....
Many don't get to receive the gift of time. And some how being ashamed of sharing our age or fretful about aging seems to contradict the blessing that each day & year carries. Lord, forgive us! So, with that in mind, I vow (and maybe you'll join me) to never look at the gift of time that manifest as age, as a threat, but to meet it with thanksgiving. I vow to celebrate each day I'm given, wholeheartedly without reservation of thought about how many days are left. I vow to celebrate life and live it fully and intentionally. I vow to love harder each day and to soak in each breath with gratitude. With each opportunity that I'm given, I vow to live, to laugh and to even to cry with renewed vigor and a sense of purpose; knowing that time is the greatest treasure on earth.
I believe that God has our destinies mapped out, a map we can never fully understand, so, let's vow to also release control of time and embrace every bit we're treasured to have, with intention. And if you're a believer in Christ who've accepted Him into your heart, eternity in Heaven will also be a prize to gain.
Let's make every day count and make age something that we are boastfully about. I love y'all.
With love,