growing old or just growing?

Life is what happens while you are making other plans.  How true that is.

I’ve been thinking about growing old.  It kind of sneaks up on a person.

age 7 or 8  — I am playing football on the road in front of our house.  I didn’t think about just how stupid that was.   That is until I skinned up my knee.  Ouch! The scar has gotten smaller with age.  The memory of the event, quite possibly,  has grown with age.

age 16 -17  — Ah, freedom!  I have a license to drive.  The world is my playground.  OK, maybe not the world, but certainly a 25 mile radius!

Choices were all around me.  As I look back I clearly see the hand of God protecting me on lots of occasions.    i.e.  My boyfriend, who was taking me to my Junior prom, ended up in jail  for drug possession one week before prom.  Try explaining that one to your God-fearing, church going, loving parents.  Truth is I did not know that he was selling. (It did explain some questions that I had.  Like how he could afford his Cadillac and the fact that he always seemed to have money.)

That whole process made me very aware of the importance of relationships and the company you keep.

age 26 – 27  I have married my best friend  and we have  the most adorable twin boys.   Life has taken on a whole new dimension.   Again the hand of God is evident in our lives over and over again.    i.e. My sister, the boys and I were in her little red Pinto traveling down the highway when we hit a patch of ice.  The car is sliding sideways down the road headed right for a vehicle that had stopped.  Just as we were about to hit the other car, our car swerved around it.  I can still see the driver’s eyes as we passed by.  Think what you want, but I know that it was God.

age 37-38  The boys are growing up and it is time for me to take the next step in my life.   I went through the process required to be an official minister.  At that time the church was going through some issues.  I was stretched  in ways that I had not been familiar with before.  Again the hand of God in my life.  Sometimes He works in miraculous ways.  Other times He takes our hand and walks us through.

the 40′s found us empty nesters for a while.  That was harder than I imagined.  Big changes took place.   God walked us through.   It is exciting to see the men that our boys have turned into.  Why does it seem like just yesterday we were playing trucks or reading books together?

I am truly enjoying having my son and daughter  live with us while they are in transition.   It is a new chapter in all our lives.    The house is bustling with activity once again.

Life marches on and truly waits for no man.

I am approaching that 50 mark.  Some days I just don’t know how that can possibly be.  Then there are other days.

Lately I have been aware of how people older than I behave.  I have said on many occasions, usually at work, that I do not want to be like that when I grow up.   Then I think of my Opal.  She turned 100 last year.  I want to be like her when I grow up.  She is proof that you don’t have to be cantankerous and unhappy as you age.

Growing old does kind of sneak up on you.   I am grateful that through all the years God’s grace has been indeed more than enough.   With each situation my faith grows.

I know this next decade will be an exciting journey.

til next time