Gift of Time

“Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.” Ecclesiastes 3:11

At no time in the history of cosmetics have women been more vocal about looking younger and prettier than today.

Beauty products that are focused on looks for women, and even for men, have become multi-billion-dollar businesses. Never before have there been more gyms and spas to make people feel good about themselves.

Beauty clinics have likewise been ultra lucrative. Every day, there is someone undergoing surgery or treatment for bigger eyes, a higher nose bridge, firmer breasts, and whiter skin – and talking about it in ads or to friends.

“Take 10 years off your face,” one ad says. By eliminating eye bags, wrinkles, sagging jowls and the telltale signs of aging, one can indeed look younger.

But Mark Twain said this about aging: “Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”

Aging is part of life as God designed it. We cannot stop it or deny it. We can have all the surgeries, cosmetics, herbs, and pills available to us today, but time will still tick by. We will grow old. And we will look it and feel it eventually, no matter how much we may try to delay it.

It is best, then, to enjoy the seasons of life – teens, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and so on. Let’s delight in the different experiences that our life stages bring. With age comes wisdom and maturity that even the greatest mind of youth cannot begin to imagine.

Lord, thank You for the gift of time. Help me to use it as best as I can according to Your divine plan for my life.

(This post in one of the 365 entries in the devotional Grace Found Me, a recipient of the 2012 Gintong Aklat [Golden Book] Award, Inspirational Category, from the Book Development Association of the Philippines. I decided to revisit it because these days, aging seems to be a sin.)