God has recently been telling me, “Give it away” and that is just what I am doing! I’ve invited some beautiful souls from my favorite Facebook community for women in the 50+ season of life, The Consilium: a Gathering of Wisdom and Grace. Enjoy the words from their hearts and, if you don’t mind, would you leave a comment to encourage them? Feel free to join us over at The Consilium – we would love to see you there!

 

Today I would like for you to meet Kim Adam:

 

I turned 50 years old this year and it’s not what I expected.

I thought 50 was the time to take it easy. My kids would be grown and I could slow down, ready to ease gently into my declining years. I’d spend my days rocking on the front porch, sipping iced tea, reading a book or dispensing wisdom to my grandchildren. No more worrying about how I looked, because who really looks at a 50-year-old lady? I’d wear yoga pants all the time, eschew makeup, and maybe start baking, because don’t all grandmotherly ladies in their middle years wear aprons and bake cookies? No pressures anymore, just time to rest and enjoy whatever years I had left. After all, I’d be too old to do anything exciting like write books, go on mission trips or sing on a worship team, right?

Life has a way of turning our expectations upside down.

I’m not even close to finished raising my kids – I still have a 10-year-old and a 13-year-old in the house. Life is racing ahead at full speed around here. Slowing down? Not hardly.

I do still care about how I look, and probably more than I should. My body and face are playing some mean tricks on me as a result of bad choices earlier in life (wear sunscreen, kids) but I try to see my imperfections as interesting battle scars. Makeup is my friend, and I am merciless to my hair as I seek the cut and color that will enable me to be chic and age appropriate yet not make me look older. It’s a fine line I walk there.

I can’t believe I once imagined this time in my life was time to basically give up. Yes, I get tired. But there is so much more life to live. Why did I think God would be finished using me once I hit the half-century mark? I’m not ready to settle yet.

Brendan Manning wrote about something called “Settler Theology”. He says that “there are two views of life and two kinds of people. Some see life as a possession to be carefully guarded. They are SETTLERS. Others see life as a fantastic, wild, explosive gift. They are PIONEERS.” (source here)

Settlers are like people who set out on a journey but somewhere along the way they stop. At first they think they’ll just stop to rest and then continue on. But before they know it years have passed and they’re still at the rest stop, so they decide that this place is good enough, and they settle there. They stop before they ever reach the finish line. There could have been something fantastic farther on but they’ll never see it. Maybe they’re tired and they just don’t have the energy to pack it all up and get going again. Maybe they convince themselves they’ll be happy enough right where they are. Maybe the unknown feels unsafe. Maybe they think they’re too old. For whatever reason, forward motion stops.

But the Pioneers…they do just what their name implies. They keep discovering new things and blazing new trails. They aren’t content to stop and settle down because there is still too much out there to be done. Life is a wild adventure surrounded by a glittering cloud of mystery. Why would anyone want to settle in one place when there is so much more to see and do? The undiscovered continually beckons them on.

adventuremystery[1]Friends, let’s not settle just yet. He’s not done with us. Let’s keep moving forward and discovering new things about the world, our God and ourselves as we seek Him and His will for us. There is no age limit to serving God or being a Pioneer, unless it’s self-imposed. Don’t you think it’s high time we strike the words “too old” from our vocabulary? As long as we draw breath God can still use us.

I’m glad I was wrong about 50. It’s not the end. It’s a new beginning.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” Hebrews 12:1-2a

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  Kim Adam is a wife, mom and grandmother who is in love with words and believes that nothing is wasted in God’s economy. As a recovering perfectionist, she relies on God’s grace to get through each and every day and cherishes knowing that He loves her imperfect self just the way she is. Born and bred in the South, she is a grammar and spelling nerd who still thinks “y’all” should be considered a proper noun. She loves irony and seeing the humor in life, and especially enjoys laughing at herself. She blogs at www.onerebelheart.wordpress.com, and you can find heron Facebook at  https://www.facebook.com/onerebelheart and Twitter as @onerebelheart.

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Diane W. Bailey is the founder of The Consilium – an online community of wisdom and purpose for women over 45 years of age. She is a published author. Her books include String of Pearls – From Tears to Treasure, and 30 Days To A Better Stepfamily. She creates her own line of precious metals bracelets. Diane lives in the Deep South with her husband Doc. Together they have created a stepfamily, each having two stepchildren and two birth children, and share three grandchildren, one black lab named Charlie and one long haired tabby cat named Lil Girl. Diane’s passion is to encourage women to be all God has created them to be by pressing past fear and daring to live life as an adventure. Some of her life adventures include traveling to Israel, speaking, entrepreneurship and backyard farming with Doc. She loves Gumbo, fried shrimp and seeing all sunsets across water.

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