Ten More Years

Look at those pictures. Aren't they funny? Ten years apart. The picture at right was my favorite. I thought I looked absolutely amazing in that one. The one at left isn't anything special, it was just the only picture I had of myself that happened to be in front of me when I was looking for contrast. Ten years.
Think about it. Ten years' difference between the two pictures. I see tons of physical differences and it's odd to think that I am or was both of those people in the pictures. That's me.
You see the physical differences... but I remember what I was thinking, what I spent my time doing... things you wouldn't know about. I know how I have changed in those ways.

After I laughed a little bit at what I used to look like, and at the difference between these two pictures, I wondered what will change in ten MORE years? I will be almost 29 years old. It's not ancient, but it's definitely a different place. Will I be (eek!) married, will I have kids, will I still live here? Wow... those are scary thoughts... probably why God lets us live one day at a time... we couldn't handle it otherwise!

I realize when I look at the contrast in these pictures, that mentally and spiritually, I've grown so much. I've done things in the past years, through God, that I would never have dreamed about doing. I have plans that would have sounded foreign and silly ten years ago. My goals are different, mindset is different... I'm NOT the same person.

In ten more years, will I change? Other than just physically, which I expect to happen. Will I mature in my walk with God? Will I mature in my thought processes and actions? Or will I be the same person? I've grown a lot and am content with where God has me, but it would be really dissatisfying to be exactly the same... to continue my pattern of life, to learn the exact same things, to struggle in the exact same areas and never grow. It would be so wasteful.

"So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom." I really like that. So keep reading... "O satisfy us in the morning with your lovingkindness, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. Make us glad according to the days You have afflicted us, and the years we have seen evil. Let Your work appear to Your servants and Your majesty to their children. let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us; and confirm for us the work of our hands; yes, confirm the work of our hands." (Psalm 90:12,14-17)
In that passage I see a lifestyle taking place. God works, we respond. We work, God blesses. We serve, He rejoices and shows Himself to us. In summary, I see the focus being GLORIFY God. LIVE for God. WORSHIP God. SERVE God. God first - it's all for Him, and we're nothing but servants.

In ten years? Who knows what I'll be like physically. But spiritually, I want to grow (actually, I want to see growth in ONE year!)... I want to be more like Christ and to serve Him, living to glorify Him. Do I expect things like marriage and children to happen in that time? Well... yeah, I do. But first, and always, I serve. First, and always, God is most important. If I really believe that it is He who began a good work (and I do), I know that He will give those things to me in their due time. I don't have to sell my soul and wait sadly for some guy to come along, because I have the best thing that ever happened to anyone already, and I trust that if He wants those in my life, He'll bring them along.

Ten years. What can He do?