What’s Worse Then Getting Older?

If I had wanted to (which I secretly did, by the way), I could have walked out of Wal-Mart the other day with hundreds of skin care products promising to erase my wrinkles and make me appear youthfully radiant.  I then came home and turned the television on only to be barraged by makeup and skincare product commercials promising the same youthful appearance.  Upon hearing Ellen DeGeneres quote, “Hey wrinkle-face…”  I run to the bathroom and peer at my own face.  With a critical eye, I locate and place each wrinkle on my black list.  Making a vow to purchase the miracle foundation Ellen promised would hide all my aging blemishes, I turn away from my image and get back to life. 

                Isn’t that like most of us though?  We break the bank and break a sweat in the vain attempt to look ten, even twenty years younger.  Because of our seemingly endless infatuation with our youth, the beauty industry milks billions of dollars from people around the globe.  All because of our fear.  Our fear of getting older and being…OLD!!!!!  Sadly we waste our lives living in this self-induced nightmare.  Do you know the alternative to getting older?????  Being dead.  Harsh?  Maybe.  I mean to be. 

                Today I turned thirty-one years old.  I didn’t drown myself in alcohol or eat an entire container of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream (although, I could because calories don’t count on birthdays!).  I don’t feel any older, and my body didn’t grown another wrinkle.  I distinctly remember in my later twenties stating, “I’m going to need to be sedated on my thirtieth birthday!  I want to be twenty-nine forever.”  Something then happened that changed my perspective on aging forever.  I happen to share a birthday with a young man who will be fifteen forever.  Today as I celebrate my birthday, this young man’s family is mourning his.  He would have been seventeen today.  So did I mind turning thirty last year?  No.  At least I was turning thirty.  Will I mind turning forty in nine years if God grants me that time on this Earth?  No.  At least I’ll be turning forty.  Will I mind someday being eighty and watching my grandchildren grow into young adults?  I think you know the answer to that. 

                Sharing a birthday with this young man is a blessing in a way.  For the rest of my life, I’ll never be able to take life for granted.  With every wrinkle that spreads across my face, with every dark spot that appears on my skin, with every millimeter of sagging, with every year I get to spend on this Earth, I will carry this young man’s memory with me.  I hope you take this blog to heart.  This young man’s family, friends, and the people who were impacted by his smile have had to learn the hard way that growing old is NOT a curse…it’s life, and it’s one we should treasure.  So the next time you reach for that anti-aging crème to erase those dastardly wrinkles, STOP!  They are simply a road map showcasing where you’ve been; now it’s up to you to figure out where YOU want to end up.