This past Sunday I turned 30. I was blessed with literally hundreds of birthday wishes. More than a few of those also added a reference to me getting old. “Everything’s gonna start falling apart now.” “Thirty was when I started aching all the time.” “Just wait till you hit forty!”
Wow, thanks for the encouragement.
Yes, there is some truth to the human body experiencing more physical difficulties with each new year of life, but I believe being old and living young are two different things.
Age is only a number unless your attitude is otherwise. How you age says more about your life than your birth date.
Mark Twain shared this perspective on one of his friends, “He died at thirty. We buried him at sixty.” His friend had stopped living any semblance of passion-driven life and wasted the second half of it.
George Blair – 93 years young and he water skies in bare feet.
The truth is I know many people who seem to have lost their purpose of living years ago with no intention to reclaim it. These aren’t people in their 50’s or 60’s; these are people in their 20’s and 30’s! No passion, no drive, no exercise routine, not pursuing any community or purpose, or having any goals on their horizon.
I also know many more people who inspire and push me to continue living a full and engaging life. These are people like Bob Goff, a man well past 60, who is doing incredible work with Restore International all over the world, personal trainers in their 50’s and 60’s teaching young bucks like me how to be in the best shape we can be for the rest of our lives, actors like Christopher Lee and Betty White, both 92 years young who still insist on memorizing all their lines, and pastors and ministry leaders who are actively learning social media and other technology because it can be used to better impact the future of the Church.
Your birth date is no excuse for not living like tomorrow doesn’t matter. Those aren’t my words; that’s the wisdom I heard an 80 years-young man say six years ago. That’s why I exercise on a regular basis. That’s why I make it a point to keep learning and growing and asking tough questions and learning to love and listen better because that’s what life is about.
In the words of the beautiful Sophia Loren, “There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.”
Life is a gift from God our Creator. Don’t waste it. Don’t let your past success give you any allowance to coast through life. Fight for tomorrow. Fight for something worth investing in: a legacy that you lived life at the fullest to the richest for the most and best of the opportunities you could ever experience.
Age is a number while living young is an attitude. Live young today.