Getting Old Isn’t a Disease… It’s a Triumph!
Jennifer Blalock
October 10, 2013
Growing old is not a disease or a curse, but a privilege not granted to everyone. Perhaps we have been tempered by life's heatings and coolings, stirrings and additions of good times and hard times, much like chocolate is tempered to make it smooth and glossy, with the durability desired by the chocolatier. He uses the tempered white, milk, or dark chocolate to make good quality candy and other chocolate products.
Cocoa in its basic form would be unpalatable to all of us, but give us sweet, smooth chocolate, and it melts swiftly on our tongues and leaves our mouths all too soon. The experience grows more delicious with each successive tiny bite. Just as chocolate enriches our lives by satisfying our sweet tooth, our lives can be more rich, more pure, more desirable as we mellow through the tempering of our years.
When I think back through my life at younger ages and stages I realize that I thought of myself as a mature functioning adult. I had acquired all the things that I thought would solidify my status. I had a career, a husband, two children, a house, furniture to fill the house, two cars, and the bills. It all consumed me and all of my waking hours. I had failed to fully develop as a person who knew who I was before I became “someone” to others.
It's difficult to see these things when you're 19 or 20 years old and think you are fully grown and think you can handle all the responsibilities of adulthood. My body may have been mature, but my mind and personality were not fully developed. I'm not sure if any one can say that they are truly, fully developed mentally and emotionally. At a young age you don't think about growing old; you are more concerned with making a living for the family you love. Their needs come first: loving them, feeding them, clothing them, providing a home and helping them to grow to maturity.
Along the years, you experience hardships, loss of jobs, new jobs, transfers, moving, illnesses, deaths, good times, together times, and proud-of-your-spouse-and-children times that work together to mature you. Looking from the vantage point of 20 toward 66 seemed like a long, long time, and I felt like 20 was as mature as I'd ever be. Looking back from 66 toward 20, I realized just how naive I was and how blessed I have been to have survived “life” and not made more blunders along the journey.
Would I change anything about my journey if I could? I say “NO!” God has used all those times: hard times, good times and often unrecognized blessings to mature me to be who I am today. God has given me many lessons to learn in my years. I wonder what future lessons I must yet learn on my way to maturity. I'm encouraged when I remember a quote I once read, “I am not afraid ... I was born to do this,” said Joan of Arc.
