I recently had a birthday, this one giving me the honor of 56 years lived upon this earth.  By most accounts, 56 is just a random number, nothing really special about it as far as birthdays go.  But… in recent months God has been doing some things in my heart which have marked this birthday in a special way for me.  Read on, and I’ll share more…

So… aging is a journey.  A journey that will take me down some pathways every human will walk upon, but then also mark some aging paths uniquely just for me.  Of course, we all move down the path of physical aging…  it shows up in our faces, try as we might to make that not be so, the lines appear, and there is no erasing them.  We feel it in our skin and our hair and we see it in our bodies in vast and various ways.  For those round about my age and older, you are more than familiar, and for my younger readers, one day you will be. Sorry.

But aging affects the heart too. And I’m learning that its staple message is LOSS.  Not only loss of youth in our bodies and appearance, that is a given we all understand, but with each birthday passing, aging starts to whisper loss of purpose, loss of effectiveness, loss of impact, worth, value, ability and more.  

Over the years I have noted that people tend to cope with loss in various ways.  Some pretend it isn’t happening. Some cower in intimidation.  Some sink down in depression and some reach for something else to fill the gaping hole that was left when what was precious is now gone.  I have also seen some fight back with vengeance, holding on as loss threatens.

So let’s just be real, at face value, aging is brutal, sometimes beyond brutal. Not good to the body, not good to the heart, not a pathway any would readily choose. And yet, we will all walk down it. 

The question is how?

See with each passing birthday, even the ones that aren’t big markers, you more and more come to the realization that  aging happening to you too. And you have to decide what you are going to do with it.

Two things have helped me decide that this year. 

First, I have found the different...

Found the different what you might ask?  Well for me, as a Christian, I realized a long time ago that being in Christ marks everything in this life in a different way.  See there is a way that the common man lives and thinks and feels.  And then, there is a way that the born again, brought to life in Jesus person lives and think and feels.  And there is a vast difference between the two.

Being in Christ raises me up to a different way of living… living with a heavenly mindset, purpose, and privilege.  Yes, I said privilege. It is a privilege to be in Christ. A privilege that opens up the glories of heaven to the things of this world that are brutal… and that includes aging.

Both those who are in Christ and those who are not, are going to age.  Their eyes will grow faint, their skin will dimple and sag, and their bodies may disease. All of it happens to both. But the differences are vast even though the experiences may match.  

See for those in Christ, we age with hope… hope for a new body, eternal life, better things coming, tears wiped away, dreams fulfilled, righteousness, peace and joy being our norm.  We are aging toward something better and it makes it all worth it.

In that encouragement, II Corinthians 4:16-18 has gone with me on my aging journey from year to year for quite some time now…

I just love these verses…  

But this year, another passage has surely marked my “in Christ, different” way of aging.  In John 11, right before Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, He says to Lazarus’ sister Martha,

When I pondered these words of Jesus last month in our MEDITATE study, they marked me with different. I do believe in Jesus, I do live in Him… so according to what He said here, I will “never die!” I was already aware that my spirit and soul have been brought to life in Christ, but I had been living and thinking that my body would die just like everyone else.. According to Jesus, that isn’t true. “Never” is pretty clear.

How long have I thought my body would die?  Always.  But according to Jesus, “never!”  See there is something vastly different for the one “who lives and believes in Jesus.” 

While others age and prepare to die, we who are in Christ age and prepare for a transformation.  We don’t die, we step out of this world, and into heaven and our bodies are transformed into a glorious!  Can someone say hallelujah!

The day I came face to face with this Truth, I realized I needed to change my vocabulary.  I need to take the words dying and death out of anything in reference to my aging journey.  For I am “in Christ” and His ways mark my aging journey.

Semantics some may say.  But I say a heart and mind change that is full of glory and hope! What a privilege to journey in Him!

So that is the first thing that has helped me decide what to do with aging…

but there is a second...

See about a month before my 56th birthday, I came across a gift… a perspective that a trusted friend had posted on social media… and what it said cheered me greatly in the midst of deaths constant whispers of loss…  

He posted

An extensive study in the U.S.A in 2017 found that the most productive age in human life is between 60-70 years of age.

The 2nd most productive stage of the human being is from 70 to 80 years of age.

The 3rd most productive stage is from 50 to 60 years of age.

The average age of NOBEL PRIZE winners is 62 years old.

The average age of the presidents of prominent companies in the world is 63 years.

The average age of the pastors of the 100 largest churches in the U.S.A. is 71.

The average age of the Popes is 76 years.

This tells us in a way that it has been determined, that the best years of your life are between 60 and 80 years.

A study published in NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE found that at age 60, you reach the TOP of your potential and this continues into your 80s.

Therefore, if you are between 60 -70 or 70-80 you are in the BEST and 2nd. level of your life.

SOURCE: N.Engl.J .Med. 70,389 (2018) ..

What! How many, including me, were cowering at aging’s constant rant of loss?  And here as I approached 56, I hadn’t even hit my prime yet… hadn’t even begun my best days. 

So I decided something that day.  I decided that 56 was going to be a marker year for me. A year where I rise up and silence the rant of loss, and embrace the privilege of opportunities before me.  

I can’t affect everything, but Christ has called me to affect some things… and those I shall.  I won’t do 56 perfect, never have and won’t this year either, but I will live these days with purpose, with hope and with impact, embracing the privilege of living life different, in Christ.

A couple of years ago, the Holy Spirit dropped this in my heart…

“you are not old, you are going to live forever, so you are very, very young.” 

That isn’t just a nice quote… it is Truth… and I am so so thankful to live in it! 

Doing life differently for 56… whatever age you are, I hope you’ll join me!