Thirty-five.
In two days, I turn thirty-five years old.
According to our present-day culture, I'm almost over-the-hill.
Magazines love to print articles about "the richest people who are not yet twenty" or "thirty under thirty to watch". The more we see photos of famous, rich, young people, the more we think that we all need to prove something before the age of thirty. College grads now want to be the next Mark Zuckerberg (co-founder of Facebook, age 29, net worth of 19 billion dollars), Keira Knightley (actress and model who earned 5 million dollars for 'The Pirates of the Caribbean' and was nominated for an Oscar at the age of 20), or Justin Bieber (singer, "discovered" on Youtube at the age of 14).
The motto is this: succeed quickly, live well, retire early.
It's hard to compete with that. And some would say that my potential was wasted. My "prime of life" was spent bearing children and homemaking and I'm only getting older, slower, and more wrinkled by the day. But I say this: I'm only just getting started! There was a time when I wanted to be like the Marks, Keiras and Justins of the world, but today I look to these well-known people for inspiration.
- Laura Ingalls Wilder was 64 when she published the first of the 'Little House' books.
- Julia Child was almost 40 when she learned to cook.
- Mother Teresa opened a school at age 38, and won the Nobel Peace price at the age of 69.
- Grandma Moses started painting at the age of 76 and painted everyday for the next 25 years!
What I admire most about them is not the fact that they found success at an older age, but that these people had been successful all along in how they chose to approach life. The world only recognized it later and dubbed them as "note-worthy" people.
And this very short list doesn't even include the many unknowns out there who live life heroically, selflessly changing other people's lives for the better! I have friends in their seventies who organize and lead missions trips and couples who are done raising their own children but continue to raise many adopted children. Their faces will never grace the cover of 'People' magazine, and they will never have 1 million dollars, but they are amazing people, definitely people I want to watch.
Thirty-five.
The older I get, the more I realize that birthdays are not about white hairs, niches, and bucket lists. It's about being ready for the adventures that God has in store for me, whether I'm running with the wind or inching along with a walker.
With God, there is never an over-the-hill.
In two days, I turn thirty-five years old.
According to our present-day culture, I'm almost over-the-hill.
Magazines love to print articles about "the richest people who are not yet twenty" or "thirty under thirty to watch". The more we see photos of famous, rich, young people, the more we think that we all need to prove something before the age of thirty. College grads now want to be the next Mark Zuckerberg (co-founder of Facebook, age 29, net worth of 19 billion dollars), Keira Knightley (actress and model who earned 5 million dollars for 'The Pirates of the Caribbean' and was nominated for an Oscar at the age of 20), or Justin Bieber (singer, "discovered" on Youtube at the age of 14).
The motto is this: succeed quickly, live well, retire early.
It's hard to compete with that. And some would say that my potential was wasted. My "prime of life" was spent bearing children and homemaking and I'm only getting older, slower, and more wrinkled by the day. But I say this: I'm only just getting started! There was a time when I wanted to be like the Marks, Keiras and Justins of the world, but today I look to these well-known people for inspiration.
- Laura Ingalls Wilder was 64 when she published the first of the 'Little House' books.
- Julia Child was almost 40 when she learned to cook.
- Mother Teresa opened a school at age 38, and won the Nobel Peace price at the age of 69.
- Grandma Moses started painting at the age of 76 and painted everyday for the next 25 years!
What I admire most about them is not the fact that they found success at an older age, but that these people had been successful all along in how they chose to approach life. The world only recognized it later and dubbed them as "note-worthy" people.
And this very short list doesn't even include the many unknowns out there who live life heroically, selflessly changing other people's lives for the better! I have friends in their seventies who organize and lead missions trips and couples who are done raising their own children but continue to raise many adopted children. Their faces will never grace the cover of 'People' magazine, and they will never have 1 million dollars, but they are amazing people, definitely people I want to watch.
Thirty-five.
The older I get, the more I realize that birthdays are not about white hairs, niches, and bucket lists. It's about being ready for the adventures that God has in store for me, whether I'm running with the wind or inching along with a walker.
With God, there is never an over-the-hill.
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