Reflections of a 59 year old little girl.

Tomorrow is my birthday, and I will be 59 years old.  Fifty-nine.  Where did the years go?  So all day long I have been working in the shop - this is our busy season, and there is no time to stop and rest - and I have been reflecting on what it feels like to be 59.  It surprised me what I found out.  I feel like a little girl - maybe six-years-old, laughing and playing in a meadow or by a stream.  Chasing butterflies.  Splashing in water.  Carefree.  Content.  Protected.  Happy.

Now, don't get me wrong.  That is not what my body is saying.  My body is saying, "Girl, you need to sit down.  You are working way too hard."  But my soul is jumping up and down and twirling and dancing.  It is free.  So I am asking, "Why?"

And I find that I am completely trusting my Father to care for me.  I feel safe, like nothing can touch me.  Somehow or another, some place or time, I began to trust Him.  I began to depend on Him to do what I can't.  I began to believe every promise He has ever given me, and I began to believe every promise He has given me for my family.  I trust Him to care for those I love.  So I trust that "All things will work together for good,"  and "I know the plans He has for me, plans to prosper and not to harm," and "No weapon formed against me will prosper, and every tongue that rises against me will fall,"  and "I will never leave you nor forsake you."  So now I look out there, and everything I see is good.  In the natural, it may not look good, but I trust my Father.  I trust what He says.  I trust what He does.  He guides our footsteps, and He delights in every detail of our lives.  So I can be that little girl.

That little girl does not worry about the future and what it holds.  That little girls does not concern herself with what may or may not happen.  That little girl knows that her Father will take care of it all.  That little girl knows that her big, strong, loving Father is wise and just and noble.  She knows that His unfailing love will see her through anything that happens.  And that little girl knows that she is a Daddy's girl.  Her Father loves her so very much.

So I look out there and the everyday, mundane things call our name.  We get up.  We go to work.  We clean and care for those we love.  And sometimes we think, like Solomon, that life is meaningless, a chasing after the wind - and it is.  Everything in this life is just vanity.  BUT, if we can ever come to the place where we are little children again - WOW!  In Mathew 18:3-4 Jesus says, "I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven.  So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven."  

So, my friends, my heart is rejoicing in the little girl inside of me.  The outside is aging and tired, but the inside is brand new.  My prayer is that you, too, may find the child within.  May you, too, know that your Father loves you so deeply and that He wants to protect and provide for you, too.  

Happy Birthday to me!
​Terri