Aging with GRACE

Earlier this month, I was inducted into the club…the Mammogram Club. That’s right, I had my first mammogram. (Everything was completely normal!)

Two impressions of the experience stand out. First, all the nurses and techs were particularly kind and helpful. They actually seemed excited to see me there. When I checked in, the woman at the desk looked up, made eye contact, smiled widely and said, “So this is your first time here with us! Welcome!”

“Uh, thanks,” I replied, with a nervous laugh. The nurse who walked me to the changing room, and then the technician who performed the mammogram also warmly welcomed me, the “newcomer.”

I appreciated the sincere kindness. It really did offset some of the awkwardness and discomfort inherent in a procedure that sandwiches your milk producing equipment between two clear plastic slabs, like a vise constructed of two mini basketball backboards. (I hope I’m not deterring anyone from getting a mammogram. For me, it actually was much less uncomfortable than the early stages of nursing….And hopefully that doesn’t deter anyone from nursing…)

My second impression struck me as I glanced around the waiting area for the brief moment before my name was called. All of these women, I realized, were, well, mature.

“Sweetheart,” I said to my husband when I arrived home, “I’m old! Not sure when it happened. Did you notice?”

Of course he assured me that I wasn’t any such thing. Speaking of kindness, that was sweet of him.

The reality, however, is that I am aging. I’m not a young woman anymore. I don’t know that I was in the young woman category even five years ago, when I had my first daughter. When I started this blog, I considered titling it something alluding to the fact that we got a bit of a late start in having children and we were on the older side. But “Vintage Mama” was already taken, and “Old People Parenting” just didn’t have the right ring.

So here we are. I have a 5 year old, a three year old, and a 20 month old, and my prenatal charts all proclaimed I was of “advanced maternal age,” necessitating additional appointments and monitoring. And now, I’m a card-carrying member of The Club.

During my evening 20-30 minute walk/stretch outside on our property, I am thankful to be in good health. But I also realize that I may never get rid of the muffin top, the weird ache in my left hip may never completely go away, and there’s no escaping that at some point in the future, the shadow below my jawline will expand into a bona fide double chin.

Pondering these changes, it strikes me that God didn’t intend for any of them to happen. He didn’t intend for us to age…that is, for our bodies to get weaker, to ache, to break down, and eventually give out.

He created our bodies to live forever.

And to be beautiful.

Everything He created was beautiful…certainly the crown of His creation, man and woman, would have been astonishing. And He intended them to stay that way forever–radiant testaments to His wisdom, love and creative power.

But Adam and Eve messed things up, and we continue to turn against God. We start feeling the aches and pains and seeing the unwelcome changes in appearance, and instead of allowing them to direct our eyes back to Him, we complain (I know I do), or we fret about them unnecessarily. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t take care of our bodies. We need to, and it honors the Creator. Just as long as we keep in mind that we can’t prevent the aging process, and, especially, that we got ourselves into this predicament.

But there’s one more thing I want to remember. And not just remember, but ponder and anticipate, with excitement that crowds out any angst over aging. I’m going to get back the perfect, truly beautiful body that God intended for me in the beginning. And I’ll be able to enjoy it forever.

Jesus sacrificed His own body to redeem my body and soul. Jesus rose from the dead with a glorious body–completely free from the effects of sin–and He will raise my body from the grave also free from any weakness, illness or ugliness.

The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory (1 Corinthians 15: 42b-43).

[Jesus] will transform our lowly bodies so they will be like his glorious body (Philippians 3:21).

What a sight Heaven will be.

No muffin tops. No wrinkles, no under-eye bags. No diabetes. No cancer. No death.

Just perfect bodies, each unique, each awesomely beautiful. And at the center will be the God who created us perfect in the beginning, then stopped at nothing to reclaim us and restore us to perfection. Our perfect beauty of body, mind and spirit will shine forever in true reflection of Him.