I sat in my car after a long morning at the salon with my hair guru. What should have been a light moment to toss around my freshly cut and colored hair and feel sassy was instead a deep moment of decision. That morning my hairdresser revealed that, unbeknownst to me, she had been covering up gray hair for some time now. As she broke the news to me, I tried to hold it together sitting there in the chair as she styled my fresh do. I put on a smile and made a joke, but this was no joke to me at all.
While driving home I rehashed this news and realized this could go one of two ways: I could allow my heart to break over the fact that maturity is catching up with me, or I could embrace where this maturity has taken me over the last few years. During my 20s I could not wait to turn 30. I envisioned a decade where I would be taken more seriously professionally and feel more confident personally. This current decade, my 30s, has surly not disappointed. So here, on this day where the gray hair threatens my peace about where I am right now in life, I recount how this maturity has changed me for the better…
~The years past (34 of them) are now years that I look back and recount how GOOD my God is. I lean on past experience with my Jesus to better embrace rough, uncertain days in the future.
~My confidence comes from knowing that everyday, all I can do is be who HE made me and not someone I think I should be.
~My confidence also comes in knowing that God’s opinion of me, my actions, my words, my life is the only one that matters at the end of the day.
~Intentional living is key. Living in the here and now rather than worrying over the future or pining for the blast from the past does me no good.
~Over the past few years I’ve grown in creativity and found new passions and ministry. It is fun to grow and learn!
~My 30s have brought me to a place of thankfulness as I realize that I am so blessed: husband who loves me dearly, seriously cute son who is healthy, family that is always there, friends I cherish and the fact that I get to do what I love every day.
To my sweet young friends that I love to hang out with both online on this blog and in real life, please don’t fear turning 30 or 40 or 50 or whatever…embrace the idea that with maturity comes an enriched life if you let the Lord lead and guide you and meet your needs. Your 20s are a time to grow and learn. I see too many of my friends concerned that “life” ends or gets dull or gets hard when you turn 30 or beyond. Embrace life NOW!
To my awesome girlfriends who sit with me in our 30s and beyond, let’s keep doing life and doing ministry with our life. Everyday that we embrace our maturity and reach out to others, we share the light that Jesus placed in our heart. Let’s not waste our maturity fretting over gray hair, wrinkles or lament over our ever lost 20 year old figure. We have people to love, those in need to serve and a King to worship.
So yes, I did cover up the gray with a gorgeous color of reddish brown but I am still embracing the gray hair…symbolically.
Who’s with me?
You can say “I AM” whether you are 23 or 38 or 99 years old…
Leave a comment, let’s chat!
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I am 73 and loving it. I collect “gray hair” scriptures and appreciate every minute of my years and each piece of wisdom that I learn.
embracing what God has given you and making the most of it is an art that needs to be practiced daily for this girl. this earthly world is wonderful in so many ways and just as cruel in other ways. the way a woman looks holds more weight than it should and hair color being at the top of the list. I hit a cornerstone about 6 years ago as to what to do with my graying hair. with genetics and a husband that deployed often working against me, my hair was definitely graying at a pace much to quick to keep up with. i have a dear friend who is completely gray and she’s younger than me. i always admired her for embracing the gray. she is salt of the earth, one of the most giving and caring people i know, she lives life to the fullest, she is confident and she is a fiercely Godly woman. i wanted to be like her.
well now i am– almost all gray and i’m proud of the choice i made not to fight the gray. that’s one fight not worth fighting in my book. it has also taught me that true friends love me for who i am, not what i look like. it has given me confidence that it spills over in other areas of my life. and who knows, i may just be an inspiration to other women like my friend is to me. after all, the only one i’m really trying to impress is my heavenly father and i’m pretty sure gray hair or not, he loves me!
Julie,
Oh my good gracious. I couldn’t have said this better myself.Thank you!
I’m only 19 and sometimes I feel old, but thanks to what I just read I can embrace my years to come with God by side.
Neile…girl…you are NOT old. LOL. Yes, please look forward to your 20s and still look forward to 30 too!
Thanks Sarah,I will!!!
When I originally commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get
three emails with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove me from that service?
Thanks a lot!