Pursuing youth – Would you really turn back the aging clock if you could?

Wrinkles are a fact of life. So is gravity. Ask any woman over 50. Men, I bet you have the same story. This morning a cattle-call to writers hit my email inbox requesting articles about how to turn back the aging clock. I read the subject and wondered, ‘Would I really turn back the clock if such a thing were possible?’

Saying ‘Goodbye’ to Santa Claus and Youth

There are three mile-markers along the road of life that materially change the nature of your journey once you pass them:

1. Realizing Santa Claus does not exist.
2. Becoming a new creation in Jesus Christ.
3. Discovering you are no longer young.

The order of the mile markers may differ from person to person, but everyone who passes them will be changed. Some folks remember the day they saw one of these mile markers for the first time while others simply realize they passed it “somewhere back there.”

Life experience and the manner in which you lived through each experience include complementary souvenirs of character lines on you face and “identifiable marks and scars” on your body.

When you realized Santa was a myth you probably weren’t concerned about wrinkles yet. No kid spends years trying to bring Santa back. So why would you try to stomp the brakes and throw your vehicle into a hard reverse when it comes to aging?

The Physical Aging Clock is not Eternal

Your face and body change with time and circumstance. The result is visible to everyone who sees you. The nourishment and exercise you give your body determines how well it holds up under the natural challenges of time and gravity. The same is true of your spirit and soul.

The fruit of a life well-lived is love, wisdom, peace, joy, relationship, security, and humor.

Every tick of the aging clock left it’s mark on both your body and your character. The fruits of a life well-lived are also products of time and circumstance – and how you responded to obstacles, opportunities, and relationships.

The visible signs of age and wear are not eternal. They remain until we complete our mortal years but will not even remain in memory when we pass from this life into the next.

Unity of Body and Soul and the Aging Clock

Wouldn’t you love to see the radiant bloom of youth reflected in your mirror each morning? The thoughtless answer is, “YES!”  Be sure you truly understand the question before responding.

Santa Claus is a myth. So is the notion that you can turn back the hands of time in face or form without also regressing in character and soul. If you get the 20-year old body and face back you also get back your 20-year old character. What you’ve learned since will disappear along with your wrinkles.

Winding back your aging clock may improve your body but will also cost you every achievement dearly won throughout your years of life experience.

The Temptation of Youth for Moms and Dads

Mother and Father, do you cherish the years spent raising your children? Did you make your biggest mistakes early on or are you making them now?

Most parents look back from a loftier vantage point of wisdom and experience and wonder how they ever managed to turn out good kids. As children get older the issues and challenges parents have to deal with get bigger and messier. The aging and maturation of parents allows them to keep up with the demands of their maturing children.

If you turn back the aging clock for your body and face you will also fall from that pleasant perch of experience and accomplishment.

Trust me, your kids really don’t want their friends to think that you’re a sibling. Ladies, when you were 30 would you really have appreciated a mom who looked younger and fresher than you? What would go through your mind if your husband compared you to your mother and she won? You both would lose.

Dads, if at age 35 you wrestled your 62-year old father in front of your 14-year old son and got pinned by the old man, how would you feel? Everyone would lose.

Youth and Grandparents

Grandparents are far more important  to their grandchildren than just spoiling them with love and stuff. Wonderful grandparents do not waste time frantically pursuing youth.

Children learn how to be parents from their mothers and fathers and grandchildren learn how to produce the fruits of a life well-lived by observing their grandparents.

Don’t Look Back, Look Ahead

I don’t know about you, but I would not willingly go back one day. As a matter of fact, I eagerly look ahead. The truth of what is yet to be is far more beautiful, bountiful, and gracious than anything I have experienced yet.

What legacy will you leave for your family and friends? A false image of youth or a well tended tree of life that offers the fruits of love, wisdom, peace, joy, relationship, security, and humor?

Would you really turn back the aging clock if you could?

The other day a man asked me what I thought was the best time of life.  “Why,” I answered without a thought, “now.”  ~David Grayson

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Jeopardy Answers:

Ray Stannard Baker (1870 – 1946) – wrote under the pen name David Grayson.  Baker attended college in Lansing, MI. Back then it was called Michigan Agricultural College; when I was there is was Michigan State University. He was a journalist,author, attorney, and buddy of President Woodrow Wilson. I love his title, Adventures in Contentment.