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Chrystal’s Chronicles Repost (7/8/2013):  I celebrated yet another birthday yesterday and rereading this post from the same date five years ago is eye opening.  Those five years have passed in what seems like five weeks. My grandmother is still beautiful but visibly growing more frail with time. I am reminded that time waits for no one and with the time that I’m given, I want to live it to the fullest. I’m reminded that God has given me not only the gift of time but also of my treasure and my talents. It is my duty as a Kingdom Woman to “make good” on what he’s given me to work with through his power, so that I fulfill my purpose,  and am able to explore the possibilities available in this life he has given me to live. I want to hear him say “Well Done!” 

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Assuming that I have the opportunity to live the 70 years mentioned in this verse, after turning 36 yesterday, I’m officially in the second half of my life. Sobering isn’t it.

My grandmother will be 90 years old this year. She says regularly that she figures that it’s about time for her to begin accepting the fact that she’s getting old! Grandma has mentioned time and time again that her mind isn’t old…only her body is aging.

I get this completely.

I feel smarter than I was at 25 but I feel like the same person. I don’t know what I thought I’d feel like exactly…but I’m not feeling anything different really.  I’m the same person.  Just a little more seasoned.  But time doesn’t lie. My age is an indicator that time marches on. Time waits for no one.

So…just like on most birthdays, I’m filled with wonder and deep thoughts at how I’ve spent my time on earth and thinking of what I should do with the days to come.

Time is so easy to waste. We know that we don’t have an endless supply, but we use it as if it will never run out. I am at fault for leaving many things undone on my to do list that should get first priority – things that if I died tomorrow, would make me very unhappy to acknowledge I didn’t make time for.

So I’m gonna tune my piano…YUP…that’s the deep reality for today. Seven years ago, my husband got me a baby grand piano. He’s in the music business and had access to a beautiful baby grand piano that he got for me and placed in my home. I took piano lessons from the age of five to fifteen years of age and then stopped. I said for years I wanted to get back to playing the piano. If for no other reason, I have songs that the Lord gives me yet I do nothing with the majority of the them. I want to sit at the piano, accept my lack of perfection and professionalism at the keys, and develop the words and melodies he whispers in my ear. I want to allow the harmonies of my heart to be a part of my time with Him, even if no one else ever hears a note – and I want to sing and play these songs in tune.

Silly huh? There are so many things on my list truth be told. There are serious things and fun things, urgent things and important things. My list will never end I’m afraid, but I can cross one things off tomorrow 🙂 I’m calling the piano tuning man.

For the next 35 years, I want to use the voice God gave me and my existing knowledge of the black and white keys to make melodies in my heart and with my mouth to the Lord.

I’m in the second half, right in the middle of life’s winding road, and…

I want to live out LOUD.

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If I stare back in time too long, I’ll find things that I wish I would have done better or cringe that I did at all. After living half of my “Bible years”, there are lots of “would-ofs”, “could-ofs”, or “should-ofs”, but those years are spent. How I used the time is how I used it and I can’t go back and change any of it. But I can take a step forward tomorrow. 

Each day that I’m blessed with gives me another day to take a step toward wherever it is that I sense the Lord wants me to go. You are blessed too. You are still here. Will you take a step with me?

If you are so inclined, I’d love to whisper a prayer for you if you are taking a new step. Hit me back and let me know about your step.

One more thing…Someone commented on my blog and left me with a link to Angie’s Blog and I found my way to her post, The Past and The Pitcher. This post will bless your socks off. Take a moment and read it when you have a chance….