“When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.”

(1 Corinthians 13:11 NASB)

“But that was when there was a clear differentiation between childhood & adulthood. Now we have adults who want to be children.”

I took that sentence from an article by Suzanne Fields on Townhall.com several years ago. It seems that adults these days want to be children again. Mothers dressing like their daughters (I saw evidence of that at the Mary J. Blige concert I went to last night), fathers dressing like their sons and talking in the current slang with them, middle-aged folks getting plastic surgery all over their bodies, and guys playing video games for hours on end…and so on.  Everyone wants to be hip and cool, but nobody wants to be mature and grown-up.

I must admit I have never understood this obsessive need in our culture to be forever young. One of the things I have learned in my life is that every August 31st, I will add another to my age. I have no control over that process. I was born on a certain date and I will die on a certain date and I know the life I live in-between those days, I will increase in age. I could just imagine if people could control when they were born and how old they could get…some people would stop at 29 and hold onto it forever!

I have already been a newborn, toddler, child, teenager, and now I’m an adult. And I have to honor each stage of my life.  Since I’m 40, I can’t go back be 21 again no matter how great those times were then.

God wants us to live our whole lives not just a fraction of it or a certain time when life seemed easier. We have to embrace our entire life, whether we live 60, 70, 80, or even 100 years. I know a lot of young people don’t like to talk about getting old, but what even more troublesome is when adults won’t embrace their age as well. As a child, if I saw my parents and other adults afraid of aging, I would wonder why should I want to grow up as well.

If you’re 20, then be 20,

But if you’re 40, then be 40,

And if you’re 70, then be 70.