Encouragement for the Ages-Part One

How old is too old? 30? 60? 100? I don’t know, when I get there I will tell you. Even though I move slower, feel pain more quickly, and go to the doctor more often, I believe that I have not reached the full potential God intends for me. I proclaim that I am still in the early stages of my life even though I am three score and seven years old, just three years shy of the age my grandmother believed we are allotted.

Ms Hattie, MawVall to us grandchildren, said, “Anyone older than seventy is living on borrowed time.” I suspect she read Psalm 90:10, “The days of our years are threescore years and ten;” KJV. The interesting part of her life is that she died at the age of seventy, just as she believed.

Is age 30 too old? – Last year I responded to a friend who was feeling old because she had just turned thirty, “Happy Birthday My Friend, enjoy every minute of this day as if it is your last but understand you are likely to live two more of your lifetimes. It may be the largest number of years for you but likely it’s less than a third of the years that you will someday reach. That in mind always be ready to embark on any path you think you want to try. There is more than enough time to reach your destination and plenty of time to heal all ills. You have time to change careers three or four times.”

No, it’s not 30. God will bless the decade of your thirties and fill them with wonderful opportunities for growth. Remember, Jesus started His ministry at the very young age of thirty and made an eternal impact for mankind by the time he was thirty-three years old.

What about age 40? On the same day that I wrote the preceding another person read it and asked, “Do you have a word for me, a forty year old?”

I responded, I am not sure if you are asking tongue-in-cheek but I am going to assume you really want to know. First, for you babies who are in your forties, you likely have one and a third more lifetimes (or more) to live. Fifty plus years are more than enough to do anything you may want with your life or to accomplish any goal that you may have previously set aside.
Second, if you have children, they are likely about to be grown and you will have to decide what you want to do with the rest of your life. You may even have grandchildren that you are spoiling.

Third, you have a better understanding of what is important in life. In my own life, I went back to school at age 44 after my boss suggested that I take some classes to improve my job skills. I took a few classes and discovered, I loved learning and eventually fell in love with writing. It took a few years but I graduated magna-cum-laude from The University of Alabama in 1998 at the age of 52. If you are interested, I can tell you of some programs that make learning enjoyable and relatively easy to take classes and earn a degree while working full time.

To all ages, please accept my words as encouragement and realize how young you are and step back into the future. As in the well know cliché, “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” If you get knocked down, get up. Sometimes it may take a few days or longer to get over life’s challenges but you can do it.

I had intended to write this one article on this subject but realized that by the time I get through covering all of the different stages of our lives that it would be too long. I plan to cover other ages in the next few articles.

God Bless You!

by Wayne Brady 4/16/2013