Your age

Women of Faith:
Aren’t there times when you would like to change your age?

When you are 5, you want to be 15; when you’re 15, you want to be 25; when you’re 20, you want to be 30; when you are/were 35 you want/ed to be 55 (retirement) and when you’re 50 plus we wish we could be young (30ish) again.

We’ve all heard the saying, “Act Your age!”

And what’s the perfect age? Many would say—“just not the age I am.”
Infants and young children—dependent upon their parents, trust and mimic those around them. They love unconditionally and say I’m sorry easily. This is where we learn to trust, who and how to love and the value of our being. They see “me” as a “we” because “I” still depend on someone for my basic needs to survive.

Teenagers—question everything, seek the truth, and search for proof of that truth. They love change and new ideas to test their boundaries. Life never seems fair, but deep down they still want someone to show them they care—by setting boundaries so that they can avoid making their own mistakes. They are learning to blame someone else for their decisions, although they would never admit that to anyone. And they test those boundaries to see if they are real—to see if they are “true love.” While our blinders see them saying “me, me, me” they are really looking at “you, you, you” to see how “we” should be.

Young adults—I am of age. I can make my own decisions and I want to know how those decisions will benefit me. It becomes more important “to be loved” than “to love.” It becomes more about “I” than “you” or “we.”

Maturing adults— as we age, have more relationships and are given more opportunities—we also bear more hurt, more suffering, and more unforgiveness. We tend to become callused, unforgiving, prideful and/or angry and more cynical of what life has to offer. We can become less tolerant, more judgmental and have less patience for others wrongdoings.

It is more difficult to say “I’m sorry” and remember to walk in another person’s shoes. It is difficult to look at our lives from the perspective of another person. It is difficult to admit doing wrong and to take blame for our own choices and actions. We feel more like we deserve “something” in return for what we do or have done and we tend to want to blame others for our mistakes. It becomes more difficult to change our habits.

"Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children,* you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." Mt 18:3 Are we willing to become like little children, to trust, to obey, to accept, to love and to depend on God?

"I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer will they have need to teach their friends and relatives how to know the LORD. All, from least to greatest, shall know me, says the LORD, for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more." Jer 31: 33-34

Like a teenager are we willing to seek the truth and to write it on our hearts? Are we willing to let God be our God and to teach our friends his way without being fearful of societies judgment? Or do we still struggle on a path of our own and suffer the pains of prideful choices without benefit of God’s guidance?

"Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me". Jn 12:20-33

"Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him." Heb 5:8-9

How often must we test the boundaries to see that the real boundary is God’s commandment to love one another, that true boundaries give us real freedom from sin?

Heavenly Father, blessed are your children for they glorify your name. Help me to become one of them. Help me to trust you as your child, to love as a child and to forgive like a child. Help me to depend on you for my daily needs and to be obedient to you. Amen.

May the heart of a child lead you on the “right” path,
Charlotte