Turning 20 seems like just any other birthday, but when I sat down to think about it, I realized (really realized), that I've got a lot of thoughts on what it means to turn 20 years old.
These are my 20 thoughts on turning 20.
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1. I am now two decades old. Just feels weird saying that out loud.
2. I can't add -teen to the end of my age anymore. It's going to be -ty from now on.
3. ...Which means I'm not a teenager anymore! I've officially moved on from 7 years of craziness, upheaval, and childish immaturity.
4. Honestly, I am kind of sad thinking about how my childhood is over. Playgrounds and tag and making sand castles is an age that's pretty much over (Well not really, but kind of).
5. I'm at an awkward age right now because I'm one year away from being legal and making all-adult decisions.
6. I graduate from college in two years. Where did the time go?
7. Ten years ago I was 10 (sorry, nothing deep here). But wow, so much has changed since then. How much more will change in the next ten years?
8. I am so close to being done with school forever. Except, I've decided to go to grad school to become an educator!
9. I've been truly blessed. I've lived to become 20.
10. Twenty years felt like nothing, so in another 20 years I'll already be 40...hopefully still writing articles (and maybe writing an article about turning 40 and how that means I've pretty much lived half of my life already).
11. I could be married in the next ten years. What...
12. I could be having children in the next ten years. What What...
13. I only have a few years left before all my friends start getting real jobs, getting married, having families, and moving on with their lives. (Unless we all become neighbors, which will be very good. I will be very happy about that).
14. I won't be able to eat anything I want anymore at any time I want because I won't have that same teenage metabolism.
15. On a brighter note, everyone has told me that the twenties are going to be some of the best years of my life. YES!
16. I will begin to see the fruits of everything I've been through and everything I have been preparing for. My dreams will start coming true. Maybe not in the way I expect, but they will in bigger ways than I could have ever imagined.
17. I am going to be seeing so much more of the world in the next few years, and my identity will be strengthened as I root myself in God and in the new experiences I encounter.
18. The longer I've lived, the more I have seen God's faithfulness in my life. He hasn't changed in the last 20 years, and He won't be changing in the next 20 years.
19. Age is honestly just a number. I shouldn't be anxious or worried at all. In fact, I rejoice in the fact that even though my body ages, my spirit and heart does not.
20. My life is a vapor -- I may be here today, but gone tomorrow. By God's grace, I look back on the last 20 years and really feel like I've lived a meaningful life. I am a vapor, but God is eternal. My life here is to glorify Him who lives forever. And in Him, I will live forever. He has big plans for my life no matter what age I am or what age I live up to. I am living for something bigger than myself, and thus, I have purpose.
By reflecting and writing down these 20 thoughts, I've really had to come to terms with the fact that life goes by so fast, and it goes by faster and faster. It made me wake up - I have to live each day with a thankful heart and know that each day counts because the days add up to years, and the years add up to a single life that we were given to live.
But I have hope in God, who promises me so much more than just twenty short years of living. He promises me an abundant life here on earth, and an everlasting, eternal life in Heaven with even greater plans and purposes there.
How old are you? Think about the years that have gone by - were they meaningful? Do you have hope for the future? What will you do differently in the next 20 years to live a more meaningful life?
