Growing Up Without Growing Old

Cropping out the world’s distractions and filling every corner of her life with joy,

she giggles as she runs

My niece always brings to mind Jesus’ words,

“Unless you become like a child….”

I need time with this little girl often,

because I’ve felt a little old lately.

Not in a real-world “I can’t believe I’m 52 kind-of way,”

but in a spiritual sense.

I want to grow up in Christ.

I just don’t ever want to grow old in Him.

 And maybe that’s what Jesus meant.

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“Crop out the distractions, Tammy.”

“Giggle as you run.”

“Focus on me.”

Is staying young this simple?

I think it just might be.

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 Just before his death, Sir Isaac Newton made this remark:

“I do not know what I may appear to the world;

but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore,

and diverting myself by now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary,

while the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me”

– Brewster’s Life of Newton, pp. 300, 301. Ed. New York, 1832.

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Maybe it was the joy of finding a smooth pebble or a pretty shell that kept him young.

Maybe it was knowing there was an ocean of truth undiscovered all around him but not feeling like he had to know it all

or do it all

or be it all

in order to live big.

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I see tired moms, busy running here and there with their children and wonder………..

“Do they realize the treasure of this insane moment?”

The running ahead, giggling child that seems to ignore her words,

“Slow down,”

may be teaching her to seize the day not simply trod through it.

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The endless questions at bedtime……………..in hopes of a few more minutes awake.

Maybe children are trying to teach us to wonder again.

Oh, to have that chance to hear my kids’ sweet, little voices at bedtime.

Children ask,

Why?

When?

How?

Where?

They want to know more.

And I don’t ever want to stop knowing more either.

I can’t turn back time,

but I can turn back my heart.

I can find my youthful soul again.

And I’m working on it.

I’m okay with growing up,

but I’ll never be okay with growing old.

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them,

for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

(Matthew 19:14)

Praying you’ll find a smooth pebble, a pretty shell, or a surprise heart along your way today.

<3 I’d love to see it if you do. <3