the opposite of old

I am older than the Man With the Yellow Hat.  I am pretty sure.  Ever since I was a little girl I have loved Curious  George.  I had a Curious George stuffed animal (or was it my sister's?) when I was about 8 years old and thought it was wonderful.  

When I had kids I started reading Curious George books to them.  I love to find the old ones at the library.  The ones with lots of pages and big words.  

Last night Matt and five of the kids were at a 5-Day Club and I was at home with Leah and Micah.  I decided to put a Curious George movie on TV.  I sat down with the kids to watch it.  

That's when it hit me.  I am older than the man with the yellow hat.  When did that happen?  He doesn't have one gray hair or bald spot.  He talks like a young man.  He looks like a young man.  Oh dear.  Am I really that old?

Sometimes it's easy to look at the past.  When I was younger.  Looking back can lead to many "what-if" questions.  It's not the best thing to look back, though.  If my purpose in looking back is not to remember all the good things that God has done, looking back can be a wistful longing for the things that were.  No one getting ready to go to college in 19 days.  No second child learning how to drive.  No baby girl going to be in kindergarten.  No baby boy too big to be carried everywhere.  Those thoughts can lead wildly to discouragement as one things build on another.

Matt read these verses to me this morning. Although he read them to me out of the NASB, I looked up a paraphrase of the verses:

This is what God says...
“Forget about what’s happened;
    don’t keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new.
    It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?
There it is! I’m making a road through the desert,
    rivers in the badlands.
Wild animals will say ‘Thank you!’
    —the coyotes and the buzzards—
Because I provided water in the desert,
    rivers through the sun-baked earth,
Drinking water for the people I chose,
    the people I made especially for myself,
    a people custom-made to praise me.

That was so good for me to hear and to remember.  God is a God of the new.  He gave me new life,a new heart, a new song....
Revelations 21:5 says, 

And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.”

It doesn't matter how old I am.  Who I am older than and who I am younger than.  God is not bound by time and one day I won't be either.  For now?  I will remember that God makes "all things new".  So instead of sadly thinking that the opposite of old is young, I will be encouraged that with God the opposite of old is new!