Waking to find my age has advanced. One more year. Again.

Grateful is an emotion I am feeling now, for certain. Amazed is another. I once believed this age meant really old…like SO old! Yet. Here I am and, well, I do not feel that I am THAT old like I once thought my mother was when I was 20 or so and she was 60 or so.

What DID make me feel old this year was filling out a random form that I cannot remember what for….hmmm NOT an age related memory issue… I don’t think. Anyway, the form asked the age range I am living in such as 10-25 or 25-35 or 35-55 OR 55 and older. 55 and older was the last option.

There were no more dots. Not one more? Not 55 – 65? Not 65 to 95 or 95 and older??

I stared at that page and this is exactly what I thought, “I am living in the last dot of my life?”

What does that mean? What about my Murphy mother who lived to be 97? What about my Betty Jack mother who is nearing 93 and very much full of life and still driving herself to everything she wants to experience? Yes, a little annoyed that moment that any program or group would place me into the last dot of my life.

As I sit here in this beautiful coffeehouse I glance to the right just now to see this beautiful old tree. The rings will offer its age though unfortunately those rings will only be counted at the end of its life. I look closer and I can see the places where storms and seasons have broken portions away, bark that has protected it for decades now pulling away. Yet, clearly still fully alive and serving a purpose. This tree was once planted firmly in this exact location and its roots must surely grow deep.

Perfect. Thank you Lord for this message today. I will be like this tree firmly planted exactly where my Creator designed me to be. I still have a purpose and daily I need to walk into what He has called me to do.

As do you! You were created and designed by THE Creator! You are uniquely designed and you, like me, were woven together within our mother’s womb as Psalm 139 eloquently and beautifully writes.

What an amazing time to be alive! You and I are not mistakes. We were created in the image of our Creator. He loves us and desires us to love Him! He has a plan for us!

OK. Yes, I confess I have bemoaned (which is an extreme word meaning to express deep grief or distress over) again, as I said, bemoaned… that I was born 2 days before Christmas and missed out on birthday parties growing up because ‘everyone is busy at Christmas time’ and I have been offered the one gift ‘for Christmas AND my birthday’ and have missed out on a birthday cake because of ‘all the Christmas cookies and candies that are already available’.

I am learning to find joy in being celebrated so close to when we celebrate my Savior’s birth. What also blows my mind is that I was designed to have been born on this exact day so that I could be alive for such a time as this!

Yes, for some random questionnaire I am in the last dot of my life. Guess I better get going!

May I live all of my remaining years, days and hours in the light of The Son, grateful to have been designed and woven together by The Creator and my Savior Jesus.