The Gift of Growing Older

A lot of people stop celebrating birthdays once they become adults.

Not me.

I love birthdays — and not because I want attention or enjoy being the center of the room. In fact, I really don’t. What I love is what a birthday represents.

A birthday is an invitation to gather the people I love and celebrate the simple, profound truth that God has given me another year of life.

Another year.

As I turn 35 this week, I am reflecting on another year of mountains and valleys. Another year of prayers whispered and answered. Another year of lessons learned the hard way. Another year of seeing God’s faithfulness unfold in ways I never could have predicted.

In our culture, aging is often something to resist. We joke about it. We hide from it. We groan when the candles add up.

And yes — getting older can mean more aches, more responsibilities, and fewer carefree days. Some of the lightness of youth fades. We don't have as much energy. Life feels heavier.

But what we lose in youthfulness, we gain in depth.

We gain wisdom.We gain perspective.We gain endurance.

With every passing year, my faith has grown steadier. My grit has strengthened. My understanding of who God is — and who I am in Him — has deepened. The battles I’ve walked through have shaped me. The victories have humbled me. The waiting seasons have refined me.

Life is not only worth celebrating when we are young and strong. It is a gift to grow older. It is a privilege to accumulate years-- a gift that not everyone receives.

Proverbs 20:29 says, “The glory of young men is their strength, gray hair the splendor of the old.”

Strength is good. But so is splendor.

Job 12:12 reminds us, “Wisdom belongs to the aged, and understanding to the old.” And yet our society often idolizes youth while dismissing experience. We chase what is shiny and new, forgetting that depth is formed over time.

But Scripture tells a different story. In Proverbs 3, Solomon urges his son not to forget wise instruction, because “length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you.”

Length of days is not something to resent. It is a blessing.

So the next time your birthday comes around, resist the urge to downplay it or dread it. Don’t treat it as just another ordinary day. This day has significant meaning--the day God chose to breathe life into your lungs.

Receive it as grace.

You have been sustained.You have been carried.You have been given another year to grow, to serve, to love, to become.

Celebrate with feasting. Gather your people. Light the candles.

Not because you are chasing attention — but because you are honoring the Giver of life.

Publicly thank him for what He has done in giving you one more lap around the sun.

Growing older is not something to fear.

It is something to thank God for.