KACS Radio Network

Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. Proverbs 3:3, 4, NIV.

I’m not 16 anymore. I accept that fact and, most of the time, I’m heartily glad that I’m not. But sometimes I look in the mirror and wonder: Who is that middle-aged woman staring back at me?

God has made us wonderfully well, and I’d rather be getting older as opposed to the alternative. But when parts of me don’t move as well as they used to, or work as easily as I’d like, I begin to complain.

My problem is that behind this face I still feel 16. My mind still thinks I’m a teenager. (I think my mom does, too.) Granted, I’ve packed quite a few years of experiences into this body, and, as a result, I’m probably smarter than I was at 16. I know I make better decisions than I did then.

My epiphany came today. I was driving along in the 90-degree, humid August weather, thinking about how great a jump into a nice, cool swimming pool would feel, and I realized—just because I’m thinking like a kid doesn’t make me a bad person—I must be what they call “young at heart!”

But the important thing I have to remember is that the past is over. It’s finished and done with. I can’t go back and live over the past—I can only learn from it and go on. Some people I know like to live in “the good ol’ days” and complain about how terrible everything is today. But God doesn’t want us looking back. He wants us to look forward, using the knowledge we’ve gained from the past. That’s why he gave us the past, the present, and a future.

Today is a new day. There are more possibilities today than during any other day you’ve ever lived in the past. Today is your opportunity to do something worthwhile—for yourself and for others. If you think you’re too old or too young or too tired or too busy, you’re absolutely wrong. You are in the best possible place to make a real, positive difference in your life and in the world surrounding you.

Today is the best opportunity anyone could ever imagine, because what you do with your today is completely up to you. Make it the best day ever with God’s help.