I'm really looking forward to being older than I am. At my next birthday, I'll be 30 if you count in the Chinese tradition (where you're 1 when you're born and turn 2 when you've lived for 12 months). I can't wait to be out of my 20s. It's been a decade of ups and downs. And in many ways, a big ol' mess. I'm grateful for how those things have developed me, but I will be glad to leave my 20s behind. It's not that I expect things to get better in my 30s. But I expect me to be different and more equipped.
I look forward to being stiller, more sure of God's truth and love, more truthful and loving, and letting Christ make his dwelling in me completely. I look forward to bearing old, closed scars having survived injuries and fought good battles. And I look forward to being softened by time and bearing the callouses of hard work. I look forward to being more sincere and teachable, evenhanded and evenminded, seeing that "it's not as simple as that" or "it's not the right time".
People often love people for their youthfulness: vitality, beauty, potential, but these things often don't last. When those things have been stripped away by time, you know if you're really loved.
I am looking forward to look older than I do now. People sometimes dismiss what I say until they find out that 1. I'm not a teenager. 2. I work for the church. 3. I'm studying theology after finishing undergrad studies. 4. I've worked as a nurse. 5. I've lived overseas. Why do these external things matter so much?
And I really look forward to being closer to being in paradise with my Lord. Eternity. No, it's not more of this! Who wants an eternity of this world?? No, he promises an unending day of joy. Let the day come quickly.
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5 comments:
Dang, I just wrote a really long response, but then I got an error when I tried to post it.
In a nutshell:
-Wow, you are ok with grey hairs etc?! You are more evolved than me, cos I dread grey hairs.
-I am glad you reminded me of the benefits of getting old. Well, you are very youthful looking so I can see the benefits for you.
-Getting old reminds me that we are just weak sinful people, destined to die. Even great beauties like Angelina Jolie will have to face the reality of her own mortality in this life when her boobs start to sag and her lips get thin (and reduce to a normal size).
-Getting old is God's great way of bringing equality across humans. Even the rich, the beautiful etc cannot escape the ageing process.
-Getting old (or more mature) is great for the spirit and mind, but not so for the body. I think arthritis or scoliosis would be horrible to live with.
Thanks for this post, ageing is a great thing to consider since we all go through it, but it can happen so slowly, you don't realise.
Actually, on a less negative note...
I really love the benefits of ageing that you point out. For the Christian, we grow and are renewed daily.
We really are jars of clay whose bodies decay and sag, but whose insides are becoming more and more beautiful. I can't wait to let go of this body and be free...! Free from saggy boobs and free to live exactly as God created me to live.
Oh, Mel. Thanks for retyping!
And "Happy Birthday, Mel!!" for tomorrow!!
I'd love a head full of white hair. My Grandfather doesn't have any white hairs...
Good point about how God reminds us all of our fragility and morality - little, gentle warnings about our destiny and dependence on God.
Yeh, I don't look forward to ailments or chronic illness either.
It's amazing how mellow people get in older age, and I wonder if it's because the pains, malfunctions and slowness of their body humbles them?
Had to laugh at your second comment!
Sometimes I put 2 Cor 4 in people's birthday cards...
"16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
... not everyone's though! "Outwardly, we are wasting away" may be taken less than complimentary.
Older and more beautiful... a few of my older girlfriends have said how something just shifted when they turned 30. They began caring less about what other people thought, felt freer to be themselves and became more comfortable in their skin. For those fantastic reasons, I look forward to turning 30 myself. Bring on the shift! I love feeling like a kid still (at 28!) but the idea of becoming more of who I'm meant to be is really appealing.
... but I already have grey hairs so that's not a future event to look forward to... I guess there's always dye...*sighs*
Funny how not-caring-what-people thought-of-you can be a good thing!
I hold up Mary Kostakidis as a beautiful woman. Strong, elegant, sharp, sassy, polyglot, gray-streaked hair, attractive and over fifty!
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