^“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.”  2 Cor. 4:16

Musings on my birthday (last week): Remembering when I was 37 (NOT last year!)– I wore a new dress to church and an older guy actually came up to me and said “That dress looks very nice– it makes you age gracefully.” 😲 I don’t think I ever wore that dress again!

Somehow, I couldn’t associate those words together– “aging” and “gracefully”!

“How could something that debilitates, depresses, and de-voids people of health, strength, beauty, and opportunities be ‘graceful’?”, I wondered.

~I bought into my own fears, the Enemy’s lies, and cultural values that said “every year you age, you lose respect from others and enjoyment in life”– not to mention the reality of losing so many we love that pass away as we get older!Then one day I realized all that was just a self-fulfilling prophecy.

–>I decided not to “die” while I was still living.

–>I remembered my husband preaching once that there’s “no expiration date on the bottom of our feet” — so we’re good to go until we go!

~Yes, aging is an unpleasant reality in many ways– pains crop up in body parts we never knew the names of until they started hurting! Loved ones do leave this world, and we miss them. Some doors of opportunity do close.

~BUT– the Lord opens other doors! For example, I discovered coaching and became a Certified Professional Life Coach over a year ago– and love helping people that way!

💕 Also, if we let ourselves love again and again and again, new friends of all ages will enter our lives, as we continue to love our family and longer-time friends well. And grown children get married and have what we call “grandchildren”, further multiplying the blessing of love

~If we let ourselves keep learning, we will. I’ve learned so much the past two years– about relationships, about confidence, about not giving up so easily, about recognizing the Enemy’s lies and having the guts to stand up to Him in Jesus’ name and power!

I plan to continue learning… And sharing what I’ve learned along the journey– something any of us can do for those who haven’t reached that far in their journeys yet.  This is one blessing of aging—if we let it be.

“Is not wisdom found among the aged?
Does not long life bring understanding?”  (Job. 12:12)

–>Until the day we leave this world, the Lord will always have something FOR us– to learn, to do, to receive as His gift. And someone FOR us– to love, to encourage, to pour into, to enjoy.

I’m not going to miss any of that by letting myself “get too old” — even when I’m tempted to believe “it’s too late to…”

“It’s never too late to start doing what’s right”.  Especially when we get our strength from the Lord:

“Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
 but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.”  (Is. 40:30-31)

“We don’t stop playing because we get old. We get old because we stop playing.” I will never stop playing! — Maybe not the most “graceful” way of aging– but certainly a lot more fun!

So– those of you older and younger– how do you view aging?