Forties Top 40, #36

#36: Riding the fence on whether I'm young or old.

Sometime after I turned 40, we were singing a song in church with these lyrics about praising God:

Praise you in the morning, praise you in the evening
Praise you when I'm young and when I'm old
Praise you when I'm laughing, praise you when I'm grieving
Praise you every season of the soul.

For a brief but memorable moment I had a little identity crisis.  "Am I young or old??"

This is one of the things that has made my forties incredibly enjoyable.  I have had some of the best of both.  And depending on the situation, I have been old enough to choose for myself whether to be young or not.

I have lived in the same area and known many of the same people for all but two of the past 24 years.  When I moved here, I was 25.  I am blessed with friends of all ages.  The people who were 49 then (my current age) are now 73.  They were my friends then, and they are my friends now.  Some of them are young, and some of them are old, and a few of them haven't survived.  Most of them probably vacillate between young and old several times on any given day.  Today I listen to my creaky knees, and having observed the aging process a few times, I can see where this is going.  It makes me appreciate my health and helps me be determined to take care of myself so I can stay on the young side of old.

By the same token, I love being on the older side of young.  Experience has taught me to be comfortable in my own skin, and to not worry so much about what other people think.  To trust myself a little more.  To trust God a lot more, after seeing him faithful time after time.  Some of the things that were once struggles just aren't any longer.  I love the insight and challenges that come from adult friends who are younger than I am.  It's so good to be here on this side, I often think.

When I'm young and when I'm old.  I sure hope I can straddle that fence for another decade.  It's a blissful season.