Feeling Fabulous at 40!

I confess, I did not expect this to be the title of my birthday blog post.  My perspective on turning forty was developed in my teenage years when I first saw this moment in "When Harry Met Sally": 

I've quoted that line too many times to count, with the same melodramatic despair  Meg Ryan used when she said, "someday".  Turning forty was synonymous with an ending in my mind.  The end of being young and all that I associate with youth.  The end of fun and frivolity.  The end of spontaneity and adventure.  Just, the end.  My feelings about forty were beginning to show a few months ago as the new year approached when my very practical husband said to me, "The alternative is to be dead, so I want you to turn forty."  Sometimes a simple truth can slap you out of your melodrama. 

Once I turned off the voice of Meg Ryan, I was able to take a good look at my life and what forty was really going to mean.  Here I sit, turning forty, and I'm in the middle of one of the sweetest seasons of my life.  I'm in a marriage that grows stronger every day, because I married a man that loves God first and is committed to having a healthy relationship with me.  I'm enjoying all of the amazing firsts that come with the first year of my sweet daughter's life.  I have incredible family and friends who are there for laughs as well as support and encouragement.  I'm unbelievably blessed to get to use the gifts that God has given me as a speaker and be a part of so many different ministries and churches as I pursue the ministry God has given me.  Even more, I have all these years of life experience, wisdom and faith to fall back on as I face whatever new challenges or trials I may face.  Getting older really is about getting better. 

Oh sure, I don't have the body of a nineteen year old anymore (and boy that was such a great body), but I'm happy to trade it for no longer having the foolishness of a nineteen year old.  I may not have the energy I had when I was twenty-five, but I'm so glad to not have the insecurities I had then. At forty I have so much more security, confidence, faith, and peace than I had in my younger years that I can't help but feel great about where I am and what is to come.  

I share this to encourage you as you age.  We live in a world that puts so much emphasis on looking young and being young that it is easy to think of getting older as a bad thing, when in fact we gain a lot with each year of life we live.  As we continue to persevere through life, we have the opportunity to become better at handling all that life throws at us.  We also have more to share with others and a greater appreciation for all of the blessings that come our way.  As it turns out, I don't feel the least bit old, but I do feel more sure of who I am and what my purpose is on this planet, and that makes turning forty feel fabulous!