Today, I am going to talk to us about an important but often misconstrued idea about age. I hear a number of people say, “Age is just numbers,” and I marvel at their reasoning.
The wise King Solomon said, “There’s a time for everything. And to everything under the sun, there is a season.” And I like to paraphrase that verse this way: “There’s an age for everything. And to everything under the sun, there is an age limit.”
Feel free to read that again.
This is the very reason most corporate jobs accept only individuals within a certain age bracket for specific job roles. They understand that there is a corresponding energy level, flexibility and capability that comes with each age; a quality that should not be compromised. Don’t delude yourself with “I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me”, when you fail to do the right thing at the right time. Even Christ said, “The night cometh when no man shall work.”
If you leave what you should do as a teenager, for when you are in your twenties, you’ll struggle with combining what you should be doing as a twenty-year-old and fixing what you should have done as a teenager. Have you ever had a carryover in school? How comfortable was it to combine it with the courses for the current level? Not easy, I guess. That’s the same thing that happens when we fail to do the right things at the right time. We struggle, and often, when not managed well, we birth another carryover, leading to a string of unfulfilled dreams, and sometimes frustrations and depression.
As a youth and Single, there’s a right age to pursue your education, a right age to learn a skill or a trade, a right age to experiment with different career paths, a right age to understand and maximize singlehood, a right age to prepare for and get married, a right age to prepare for retirement, etc. Age is not just a number, it is the physical calibration of how long we have lived on earth and a visible representation that we are closer to the finish line of our lives than we were at birth. No matter how you manipulate your birth certificate, no matter how well you appear younger than your age, no matter the heap of makeup you pile on, no matter the number of beauty surgeries you undergo, the reality remains that you cannot deceive your internal organs; they know their real age and they respond correspondingly.
Of course, physical fitness exercises, good nutrition and beauty regimens help us to stay younger and agile. However, if you don’t want to fall for the temptation to change your real age when you see an appealing job role or opportunity, then, do well to prepare for the opportunities available to your age per time.
Again, age is not just numbers. It is a whole lot of things beyond figures.
PAUSE: Do you know that your age can open doors for you or shut them in your face?
To be young does not mean to be careless and foolish. Put your youthful exuberance under your feet and make responsible decisions and choices every day.
A word, they say, is enough for the wise. I know you are wise.
Till I come your way again next week, ensure you make the most of every moment.
