Someday

“To me, old age is always fifteen years older than I am.”

-- Bernard M. Baruch

I’ve never quite felt my age.  With each birthday, I think at least once ‘I don’t feel mature enough to be this old’.  Granted, I’ve never quizzed anyone else who has been ‘x’ years old to see how they felt as they moved through their ‘x’th year but somehow, I don’t feel like I’m mature enough to be ‘this’ old (recently 39 years old, in case anyone is wondering).  And I do realize I’m not the only person to feel this way. 

It is interesting though, isn’t it, how we will look at other people and see where they’re at in various stages in their lives and use it to measure our own progress?  We’re all so differently wired with different plans and purposes, goals and dreams, yet we’ll still say “Well both my sisters are married with kids fast approaching graduation and I don’t even have one kid yet” or some other variation that fits our particular situations to basically say we don’t measure up, we’ve missed the mark, missed our chance.  Throw into the mix far too many reminders our parents are getting older (or that they are gone) and changing work environments and myriads of ‘new normals’ popping up faster than a souped-up ‘Whack-a-Mole’ game and it can make one feel uncertain and too small and too ‘not ready’ to yet be considered a ‘proper’ adult.  Whatever that means. 

Not that goals and markers and signposts are bad things to have or to keep in sight as we make our ways through life.  Not that people and situations shouldn’t change, or that life has to be all ‘sunshine and rainbows’ or that anyone should not acknowledge mucking things up in this journey called life.  Yet it’s important to remember we can’t get so tied up in all the directions our lives could have taken up to this point that we miss where we ought to be going from this point.  Yes, it may very well be that you and I are not where God’s perfect plan would have had us be right now.  Yet Romans 8:28 promises God can use all things to work together for good for those of us who love Him and are called according to His purpose for us. 

(Oh, I realized now I don’t really understand what it means to be ‘called according to His purpose for us’.  But that may be a rabbit trail to be explored more at another time.)

So yes – Romans 8:28 and God using all things to work together for good.  The key point is we need to remember to allow God to use ‘all things’ and to remember this does not give us carte blanche to do dumb things so God can turn them around.  He is as glorified by a life lived fully for Him from a very early age as He is by a dramatic ‘gutter to the altar’ story of redemption and restoration. 

It’s not too late to get on the right track.  Not for me and not for you.  And sometimes that means taking a leap of faith even when we don’t feel quite ready or ‘whatever’ to do it. 

*Yes, I realize this entry is a day earlier than normal.  But I know for certain I will not be home tomorrow morning to do my weekly Monday post, and the evening could be spent somewhere other than at home in front of my computer.  In case you were wondering.  ;-)