When I Grow Up
by docjerry · Filed Under: General Encouragement · Happiness · Overcomers
“Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” Mark Twain
What do you want to be when you grow up?
The glory of the young is their strength; the gray hair of experience is the splendor of the old. (Prov. 20:29; NLT)
When I grow up I want to be just like… Well, let me start at the beginning. When I was in college, I was part of a church-based youth group that was hosted by an elderly (to me at that time) lady who constantly amazed me with her energy, youthful outlook, and her ability to relate to us young folks, etc. I distinctly remember thinking, “Wow! Wouldn’t it be great to be that young when I get that old.” Well, I don’t know how old that woman was back when I was 18, but I expect she was somewhere about the age that I am now.
I tell you that little story to tell you that I recently encountered a new person to put on my “when I grow up” pedestal. Dr. Randy Peck and I just concluded teaching our Web 2.0 course and we had a number of great students, but one will always stand out in my memory. This particular participant was a delightful lady who I recently found out is 82 years young. Did you get that? 82 years young! (Since so many are sensitive about others knowing their age, I won’t mention the name of my new “idol.”)
Due to the situation with Sharon’s Mother, we’ve spent a lot of time over the last year or so in elderly-care assisted living facilities and observed many folks in their late 70’s and into their 80’s who are just existing. They are usually barely able to walk, low on energy, and need various levels of assistance with the routine activities of daily living. It is almost frightening to see what happens as others grow old.
None of this is true of this lady in our class. At 82, virtually starting from scratch, she has learned how to blog (she’s writing several blog posts a week now), has a Twitter account, and a Facebook account. She also has joined EzineArticles and has submitted several articles which have been accepted for publication. I have observed that she is almost always the first person to show up for our webinars, and always is cheerful and full of joy, no matter what is going on. Yes, she had some frustrations as she was learning all those new skills, but she was always very upbeat and joyful about what was happening.
A couple of weeks ago, while we were all hunkered down in our warm homes during our 4-day Nor’easter (which I heard was comparable to a category 1 hurricane), this “young lady” was going out every day to attend a conference or seminar which was happening in her city. She wasn’t about to let a little wind and rain interfere with her plans. She is truly amazing!
Lord, I pray that I will still have that joy and drive to learn new things 15 years from now.
(BTW, the two ladies in the photo are roughly the same age, but neither is a picture of our most amazing student.)
Prayer Power
Father, give us all the grace to age gracefully and joyfully and retain our zest for living as we move into our golden years.
Link of the Day
ProsperNow777
Blessings on you as you set your sights on staying young at heart.










“Newness is all about perception.” Jonathan Wells
“When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion.” Dale Carnegie