I recently bought a new vacuum cleaner and was bemused when the sales person confidently announced that this new cleaner ‘will see you through.’
- Did he see me as his Grandma, or
- did he assume I was living in a small apartment and wouldn’t need to do much vacuuming?
- Did he know I was lazy and only vacuumed when the grandkids were coming to stay or
- maybe he was saying it was a good quality cleaner.
It was the first time I have ever been confronted about the reality of my age. I’m not THAT old am I? I’ve only just turned sixty but I still feel thirty-something.
You may be nodding yes to the ‘old’ bit or you may be saying you understand how I’m feeling.
Then I had to buy another car and wondered if this was to be my last car!
When I settle to write my article I always read the previous one first. Last time we talked about what we had in our hand and what was distinctively unique about us. I thought about my list in context with my vacuum cleaner episode, and realized my list of character qualities has changed over the years and have had different expressions as I’ve moved through the stages of the life cycle. This may be true for you too – or will be one day.
I remember asking God for wisdom and understanding, thinking I’ll have them by the next week. Little did I realize then that I would go on a journey experiencing unwise choices and misunderstandings to gain wisdom and understanding. Shall I mention asking for patience! All the time I watched other women and wanted what they had, not realizing they were watching me and wanted what I had. It’s a terrible trap of the enemy to keep us feeling inadequate, immobilized and useless for Kingdom work.
Ephesians 2: 10 (Good News translation) says ‘God has made us what we are, and in our union with Christ Jesus he has created us for a life of good deeds, which he has already prepared for us to do’. Love who you are because God has made you that way. Celebrate your differences and continue to grow in grace, faith, hope and love.
Good works have been prepared for us to do. I do mine. You do yours and together we do ours.