Toddlers, Teens, and the Twilight Years

What do they have in common?

To name a few…
They can do things they have never done before, or can’t do things they’ve always done before.
They are misunderstood by those around them.
They don’t understand themselves or what is happening to them

TODDLERS

We had seven children, but we never experienced the “terrible two’s”.

One evening at supper, fourteen-month-old James began smashing his mashed potatoes with his spoon, splattering them all around. I thought he was being naughty, until Ian observed that he was just imitating me. With some surprise, I saw he was right – I hadn’t even realized it, but I had a habit of mashing a forkful of my potatoes before eating it! James was observing the world around him and imitating his dad, mom, and older sister. He was beginning to think as an independent little being. And as he approached his second birthday, I saw this more and more.

Oh yes, they are little sinners, and they find interesting ways of exerting their newly developing independence. They need to be guided firmly. But how many two-year-olds have gotten into trouble simply because the adults in their lives have misunderstood, and treated their behaviour as rebellion?

TEENS

Teenagers are in between childhood and adulthood, in more ways than just their developing bodies. They are a peculiar mix of immaturity and wisdom. Decisions made prematurely can lead to disaster, while at the same time they show amazing insight. They don’t know what to do about their suddenly long arms and big feet. They trip over themselves. They don’t understand what is happening to them, and they are sure their parents don’t understand them.

From 1995 to 2019, we always had at least one teenager in our family. At one point we had four of them! Yet in all that time, we never had one rebel in a serious or disruptive way. They all went through internal turmoil as they navigated through those teen years, but they never strayed from Christ. Ian and I never took credit for that, because although we taught them as well as we knew how, and encouraged questions from them, we knew it was God Who was keeping them from the temptations that troubled teens in the ‘90s and following.

TWILIGHT YEARS

Where, oh where did the time go? They have lost the agility and many of the abilities they enjoyed not so many years ago. Things they used to take for granted. Stairs are a health hazard. They can’t open a jar. They have too many aches and pains to count. They don’t see or hear as well as they used to. They fear the future, and whether they will succumb to a wheelchair, or worse, dementia.

The older I get, the more I recognize how fine the line is between what could do just two years ago, and what my limitations are today. It’s also incredibly easy to forget how quickly I lose ground, and how much longer it takes to regain that ground.

THE BEST YEARS

Every age has its challenges and its wonders. The best years are right now, no matter what age we are. God has a job for each one of us to do, regardless of age, abilities, or sphere of influence.

Now in my twilight years, I am tempted to sit back and relax, spending quiet days at home with my Bible, my books, my piano, and my crochet hook. But that is the wrong way to look at it. As long as He gives me strength and clarity of mind, He has something for me to do in my corner of His vineyard.

Psalm 19:14: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.