Yesterday was my birthday. I love my birthday, I really really do. The presents, the cake, the flowers, the FB notes and texts. Wonderful. But for about a split second I had a bit of a birthday crisis: I am getting OLDER. Ok, I will go ahead and admit how old I am for full authenticity and disclosure. I am now 34 years old. No this is not anciet nor am I REALLY that old. For some reason, for a few minutes, I tortured myself with the negatives that come with age…
~ A few minute wrinkles forming around my eyes…minute!!
~The fact that it gets harder and harder each year to drop pounds.
~ I don’t look as cute in the summer shorts as I did when I was younger.
~I have to use major sunscreen these days because I don’t tan like I used to.
All of the above flew through my mind in a matter of minutes. The funny thing is that when I was 29 I couldn’t WAIT to be 30. Most of my friends thought I was nuts to be excited for 30. Haven’t you heard of those who write bucket lists of things they want to happen in life before 30? These bucket lists for 30s baffle me for I usually don’t think of 30s as a bad thing. I always ask those bucket list friends why they can’t do those things when they are 30? What is it about the decade in their mind that makes them think life will change so drastically or won’t be as much fun.
Revisiting my age crisis…as I mentioned, the crisis only lasted a few minutes because I didn’t allow myself to travel down that destructive road of thinking. I allowed the Lord to speak into my heart all of the wonderful things that come with maturity. With the minute wrinkles forming and the added lumps and bumps to my waistline come blessings of life experience where I look back on how God is working through me. My past mistakes and sin from decades past no longer haunt me because I live assured that I am forgive. I also live assured and in the comfort that God doesn’t waste ANYTHING in my life if I allow Him to use it for good. I get to look back on my past and pull from it in order to encourage and lift up others. This is ministry for me now.
So, no…I don’t fear my thirties.
What I do fear is…
~that I will waste precious time worrying about meaningless things like wrinkles and trying to fit into cute summer shorts
~that I will not continue to grow and mature; that I will be stagnant in my faith.
~that I will take for granted the special blessings God pours on my life when I worry too much about what I’m with out. The “grass is always greener” mentality is not productive.
With a heart that loves to do life and ministry with young adult women, I write this to encourage you to GET EXCITED about maturing and future birthdays. Please don’t fear your 30s if you are a twenty-something. Life does not end on your 3oth birthday. Life is fluid and always changing. What you think is the end all and the most fun when you are younger will change. God offers special gifts for each year of our life. We must approach our Lord each day open to the gift of His presence. We must offer ourselves with open arms and an open heart to what that new year will bring. These are opportunities to know Him more and to serve Him well.
With excitement and commitment to maturity, I step out into the 34th year of my life with the goal of seeking God’s face and serving Him with a willing heart and soul…even if that means more wrinkles to come in the future…He is WORTH IT.
What do you think? Leave a comment. Let’s chat!
Sarah, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! without facebook in my life I seem to miss all of my friends’ birthdays and I apologize! Hope it was full of blessings, you deserve them!
I love this post. Growing older was one of my biggest fears early in my twenties, but just yesterday I told my BF that I couldn’t wait to experience another year of my life with more maturity and life experiences! I love my birthdays and although I do feel “old” sometimes, or that my life is going by too quickly, I also have just trying to cherish each and every second of it and appreciate “earning” another year!
My 25th is coming up and I can’t wait!! :)
Happy Belated Birthday!
I’m scared to enter my 30s! My 29th birthday is just around the corner and i’m hoping I can learn to enjoy the years that are passing and not dwell on the ones yet to come.
Amber, the thing to remember is that there’s no magic switch that will turn off or on when you hit thirty. Nothing will hamper you from living a great life because you are one year old. It is really our perspective on time and how we utilize the time God gives us that makes us excited for a new year and a new decade.
I needed to read this today, last night I was struck with horrible “nothing ever changes, I hate my life struggle.” I try to reason that even though I’m not where I want to be, I don’t have to fear the future but it’s really hard. For a number of years now I haven’t liked my birthday, I have a couple of years before I’m thirty and I don’t want to be in my thirties if my situation is still as it is now, that what scares me that things won’t change, yet they could change for the worse and that would be just as bad. Really, the only thing i can control is my attitude.I do have to work on this because I definitely don’t want to waste my time bothered by things that I can work towards changing.
Tonya, I totally understand how you’re feeling…the future IS scary, regardless of where you are right now…even if the present is EXACTLY where you want to be, you can be scared of losing it in the future! You just have to remember that everything you go through today is God’s way of prepping you for tomorrow. If your situation right now isn’t ideal, there’s a good chance there are some important lessons God needs you to learn now to handle your future. I’ve been in some pretty horrible situations and am marveling at how God used them to prepare for where I am now…and how where I am now is preparing me for a bright future!
Cherish your birthday for what it is, a celebration of YOU! Don’t let Satan speak lies to you that “nothing ever changes”…because things are changing every day, no matter how small those changes may be. And like you said, YOU can change even if your situation doesn’t. Let God speak TRUTH into you, remind you of how cherished and loved you are and how He is using every struggle to prepare you for the beautiful future He has for you!
Amen to what Ryan said!
Sarah,
I just connected to your blog through the LYWB blog and was AMAZED to find you had written on your age seeing how I had just written 2 posts on my blog last week called “On Getting Older” which are very similar to this post. :) You see, I just turned 37 a week and a half ago, and I’ve found that the older I get, the more embarrassed I am tell others my age. I find this to be true among other young women I meet as well. I got to thinking about it though and realized how the aging process is really such a privilege and how it can only beautify us if we will let it by God’s grace.
Anyways, I’m glad to hear that you are looking at age over 30 as something good and beautiful as well. :) If you’d like to read my own story, from someone just a few years ahead of you, feel free to visit my blog. I hope that it may encourage you in the Lord. God bless and thank you for sharing!
Hello there!
This was a great post! Happy Birthday. I hope you had a great one and many many more….I didn’t fear turning 30! Actually, I loved it and had a great year. People need to know the world doesn’t end at 30, Just remember, if you don’t turn 30, I bet you won’t like the other alternative.