The Investment

 

The woes of middle-age womanhood are relentless - even more so if internal investments have been neglected...

"Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised." Proverbs 31:30

As we dawned our new bathing suits amidst the summer crowds of long ago we had no concept of what our mothers and grandmothers meant by, "Enjoy your body now because it won't be like this forever" or "Oh to be young again". We just thought we were cute - and would be forever.

The truth is, the middle aged "change" is no joke. It hits like a freight train -- completely sideswiping us from out of nowhere. Culturally, it seems frowned upon, but what if it's the perfect time to celebrate? After all, we'll never be as young as we are today. And we are as mature today as we've ever been. That's something worth celebrating, right?

Honestly, it's a bit of a rollercoaster experience physically and emotionally.

All of the sudden my body is changing; my once flat stomach presents an unrecognizable pooch, my thighs relentlessly hug my food from the inside out, and I seemed to have misplaced my energy somewhere along the way over the past couple years. It's a strange phenomena because as my body metamorphizes into something nearly unrecognizable, my mind has more clarity. I'm suddenly unconcerned about the vanity and outward investments of the past and more concerned with what I've done to invest in what will last. 

"Our bodies are like tents that we live in here on earth. But when these tents are destroyed, we know that God will give each of us a place to live..." 2 Corinthians 5:1

The golden hour: where the sun sets on the dirty blonde and is replaced by silver and gray and the sun rises on the realization of the wisdom, experience, and knowledge life has taught me. 

Clothes become objects of comfort, not fashion. Food is enjoyable rather than the caloric enemy. My body loudly and proudly displays the births of my children, every scar and blemish of my youth, and anything else it's in the mood to dawn. And I'm not nearly as concerned about any of it. It's quite freeing and forces me to reflect on what in the world I've been doing with the inside all these years?

To say I'm saddened by the young ladies of today would be an understatement. I'm seeing a lot of duck lip selfies, bathing suit selfies, selfie selfies, and more selfies. Most of their social media is all about them, and they seem to have bought into the lie that they're objects void of intellectual capability and purpose. I'm sure there are many young ladies who are the exception to the rule; we just don't know about them because they're not constantly posting selfies. 

Let me just take a hot minute to give a shout out to all the young ladies investing on who God created them to be, not their outward appearance. High five!

"...whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy -- think about such things." Philippians, 4:8 

Now to the middle aged women....What have we been doing all these years to insure our inward beauty shines through our fading and dull exterior?

If the answer is "not much" then we are in big trouble.

Wouldn't it be fun to sit down our 22-year-old selves and drop some knowledge to them? What would that conversation look like?

For me, I'd definitely encourage my little girl self to surrender my life to Jesus ASAP -- allow Him to become what identified me through the middle and high school years. I'd encourage myself to allow Him to fill the void of love that I'd later fill with what I thought was the "love" of men. 

I'd encourage myself to know truth so intimately that it would become the standard for how I thought, what I did, and who I allowed into the inner circle of my life. To have God-fidence! This would have saved me a world of heartaches.

Emphasis would be on the inward investment of knowing Jesus and the outward expression of faith through ministering to others. Walking with Him daily and allowing my life to look more like His. Emphasis on making regular deposits in what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy.

My family would be kind and tell you the investments I made when I was younger have paid dividends now that I'm in "the middle years." But I know in my heart the journey with Jesus has just begun. The more of Him I have the more of Him I want. 

My prayer is the longer I'm allowed to live the more beautiful I become to those around me. That Jesus living on the inside would shine through the many flaws of the outside.

So for you moms of high school boys who've made it their mission to break away from us in not so subtly rude ways -- stay strong and keep in mind you're raising men who will one day be husbands and fathers. Let them go now so they will boomerang back all the sooner.

And to moms of teenage girls, keep emphasizing the inward investments: serving others, living humbly, growing in the knowledge and grace of Jesus Christ, and making continual deposits in what is true and right. They, too, will be us one day. Leave them with a legacy worth repeating.

May God grant us grace as we navigate all that defines these middle years: caring for parents, raising teenage and adult children, adjusting to the empty nest, and rediscovering who we were made to be. May our outward imperfection lead us to the ongoing renovation on the inside. 

Invest wisely, my friends!