I See It – This is Sixty

Today is the day, the seventh of March, in the year 2020. My new thing,”This is Sixty,” is here!  No, it’s not some new movement (although it could be, I suppose.)  Today is the day that I get to consider sixty years of life — sixty years of God’s amazing blessing on my life.  In case you didn’t figure it out it’s my sixtieth birthday!  It may not strike you as exciting, but to me, it is a big deal.  Making it to sixty, seeing as I was a child of the sixties, teenager of the seventies and young adult of the eighties, seems like a fairly decent accomplishment.

I am quite blessed to have hit the six decade mark and still be a relatively well-adjusted, healthy female.  “Say what?” you ask… “But what about the vision loss?  What about the bout with cancer? (Which I won, by the way!)  Well, other than those things, I consider myself  quite healthy.  My mind is clear.  My emotional health is in check.  I can get up out of bed every day, move around and take care of myself.  The window of vision I do have in my right eye is pretty amazing, small though it may be.  In the majority of daytime situations, it allows me to move around and function with most people not even realizing that I am legally blind.

So right now, sixty is not scaring me at all.  I truly am looking at it as an adventure.  Play a game with me.  I want you to say two words.  (Yes, out loud.)  Say the word “sixty.”  Sound it out, hold out that “six-t…”  It’s better if you say it with a little southern added in for good measure.  Now, say the word “sixteen.”  Do the same thing.  Hold out the “six-t…”  Don’t they sound similar?  The way I look at it, sixty sounds an awful lot like sixteen.

Do I want to be sixteen again?  Heck no!  I’m happy with where I am right now.  Think about it though.  When you were sixteen, there were so many possibilities, so many opportunities.  The whole world was out there, just waiting for you to grab a hold of it.  There were decisions to be made, mistakes to muddle through.  (Can certainly live without those!)  There was life to be lived, adventures to surround yourself with.

Yes, other than the first part of both words, sixty and sixteen, are nothing alike.  The thing is, a lot of folks think that when you hit sixty, it is all down hill.  Your best days are done.  They don’t consider the thought that there are still many possibilities out in front of you, so many opportunities just sitting… waiting for you to take notice.  There is still much life to grab a hold of.  There are decisions to be made, and, unfortunately, mistakes to muddle through.  The kicker here is that you have a life time of experience under your belt to make this “sixty” adventure a little less bumpy than the “sixteen” adventure.

I confess, a lot of my, “This is Sixty” thought process is more about the spiritual adventures that I have ahead of me.  I realize that our bodies age, and I am a little slower physically.  That is the reality of it; our physical self will age; but our spiritual self, ahhhh, that is eternal, and will never grow old.  I want to continue to grow and develop my spiritual self.  I want to strengthen my walk with my Lord.  I want to be busy.  I want to be busy telling others about the amazing God that I serve and how He loves them and how He wants them to know this beyond the shadow of a doubt.  When I think of  developing spiritual strength, the following scripture comes to mind:

“Do you not know?  Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
  Isaiah 40:28-31 (NIV) *

I want to renew my strength.  I want to soar on those eagle’s wings.  I want to be strong and not faint.  I am on board with my, “This is Sixty” phase of life.  Won’t you come and join me?  Let’s make the next years of our lives, the best years of our lives, not so much for our benefit, but for the honor and benefit of our amazing God!

Note:  I can’t complete this post without a huge shout out to an amazing photographer and artist.  Her name is Saray Taylor-Roman**.  She is an international, award-winning photographer who made my dream come true.  I was looking for someone to capture an image of me that would say, “This is Sixty and it is going to be amazing!”  I have to say that she captured exactly what I was looking for and so much more.  I never dreamed that I could feel like this in a photograph  Thank you so very much!  

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* Scripture taken from the New International Version (NIV)  Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®

** Saray Taylor-Roman of Fine Art Portraits – Taylor-Roman