I have been playing basketball on Sunday nights at the Boy's & Girl's Club for a couple months now. It started as a bunch of women - post high school or college - who only played on occassion. I am the "outsider" since most of the women already know each other and some coach in NW Arkansas. It was great to be invited by being in the right place at the right time. Unfortunately, our numbers have gradually decreased over the weeks, but that has made room for some younger girls to get involved. We have some high school kids and some college players from a nearby Christian college. I love the challenge of playing against kids 13-15 years younger. I become more competitive in order to keep up and out play those young legs. I also hope I have skills and knowledge to pass along to them.
Last night we played 5 on 5 with 1 guy for a sub on each team. That is a little extra challenging since I am not in game shape, but I don't let that stop me. At halftime, one of those "youngsters" came to me to tell me she liked playing against me. She thought my intensity made her play harder. I was so touched. I told her that's what I am here for and hopefully she will become a better basketball player as a result. My team ended up losing (which I don't take well), but I walked away happy knowing my presence and tough play made a difference for the next generation.
To be perfectly honest, I am quite uncomfortable with getting older. When I turned 22 I vowed I would never get any older. That being said, on June 16, 2012, I will turn 22 for the 13th time (aka 34 years old). God is teaching me, however, that age is just a number, but these year of experience are incredibly valuable to my relationship with my Heavenly Father. He is using my years of experience - farm kid, athletics, coaching, marriage, motherhood, adulthood - to love through me to connect with so many people all around me. These experiences, and the years it has taken to gain them all, give me so many avenues to share the love of Jesus and what he has done for me. That is the true and most important life changing experience anyone can have.
Titus 2:3-5(NLV) "Teach older women to be quiet and to be careful how they act also. They are not to go around speaking bad things about others or things that are not true. They are not to be chained by strong drink. They should teach what is good. Older women are to teach the young women to love their husbands and children. They are to teach them to think before they act, to be pure, to be workers at home, to be kind, and to obey their own husbands. In this way, the Word of God is honored."
I think these versed from Titus help us understand the responsibility we each have to teach the next generation of women who come after us. I need to accept that getting older is part of life. All the more reason that my attitude, my choices, and my obedience to God's Word are critical to becoming the woman God wants me to be. I must make the most of every day God gives me on this earth to make an eternal difference in my own children, young athletes, college girls, new wives, or first-time moms so they see God's love, grace and mercy.
I want to be the wife of noble character described in Proverbs 31:25-26 (NLT).
"She is clothed with strength and dignity,
and she laughs without fear of the future.
When she speaks, her words are wise,
and she gives instructions with kindness."
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