Jeremiah 1:7 – But the Lord said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a boy'; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you." (NRSV)

My youngest son was born about a week after my ordination; at the end of this summer, he will be legally able to vote! I look in the mirror and see grey starting to creep into my hair, and I realize that I'm no longer a "child", except to my own mother! To retort to the popular country song, I'm now both old enough to know better and old enough to care!

Now, the question is, has God got me in the place where I was supposed to be by this age? I mean, I consider some of the astonishing things that others have done in their youth. Craig Kielburger became a social activist at the age of 12. Malala Yousafzai was 15 when a Taliban militiaman shot her in the head because she was encouraging other girls in Afghanistan to get an education; she survived, and in 2014 (aged 17), she became the youngest-ever Nobel Laureate, sharing the Peace Prize with another youth education activist from India. When Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955, the ensuing kerfuffle provoked a 26-year-old pastor to take up the charge for equal rights for all people in the United States, regardless of colour, religion, or creed. That youthful pastor's name was Martin Luther King, Jr.

Did I miss something?

Did I miss something that I was being called to, telling myself and God, "I'm too young to do anything like that?"

Maybe.

And now, at 44, sore knees and all, am I too old to start something?

Definitely not!

Abraham was 75 when he was called to follow the Lord. Zechariah was supposedly in his 60s when he was told that his wife would bear a son who would be the herald for the Messiah. Julia Child was 49 when she published her first cookbook. C.S. Lewis was 51 when The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe came out, which was yet another Christian allegory. And Lois Prater was 81 when she opened the King's Garden orphanage in the Philippines.

We're never too young.

We're never too old.

God can always be doing something with us right now, wherever we are.

Prayer: Loving God, help us to stop putting roadblocks in the way of Your plans, and to stop listening to our own excuses as to why we can't follow the path that You have laid out for us. If all that we have and are comes from You and should be used for the welfare of Your world, then show us how we can use it for You. After all, an old plum is a prune, an old grape is a raisin, and old grape juice can be good wine. Age is a state of mind, and nothing compared to Your glory. Amen.

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About the author:

Steve Boose <revboose@gmail.com>
Georgetown, Ontario, Canada
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