A couple weeks ago a young lady in her late teens came over to me at a fellowship meal after church and loudly proclaimed, "Old lady down." In the picture, the woman's knotted brows and deep frown lines sum up how I felt (and probably looked).
My response to her was, "Say what?"
Realizing she may have been out of line she stammered, "Well, I-uh, shouldn't have said that, I mean you're old enough and, well, never mind."
What? Old enough to be what? Dead? Decrepit? Irrelevant? I wanted to know but she walked away before I could find out. (To be honest with you, I chuckled after she left. Funny stuff, if you ask me.)
One thing I'm sure of is this old lady ain't down (sorry, grammar gurus). I have a lot of living left to do and a whole lot of writing still in me as well.
I've been blessed to have published dozens of devotions and articles in various publications and online. However, at seventy-two years of age, I haven't published a book. Yet. I do have a children's book ready for a publisher and another one ready for an editor. (Plus, several more in the works.) No problem, I've got plenty of time.
Laura Ingalls Wilder didn't publish the Little House series until she was sixty-four. Her last book, These Happy Golden Years, wasn't published until she was seventy-six. Anna Mary Robertson Moses (a.k.a. Grandma Moses) didn't pick up a paintbrush until she was seventy-six.
If you're a golden oldie and have an urge to write (or paint, or compose, or sing, or take photos, or get a degree, or...), go for it. It's never too late to start. I know in God's timing my books will be published. In the meantime, I'll continue writing devotions, articles and blogs all to the glory of the Lord.
I may be old but I'm certainly not down.