Act Your Age

When we are little, we are let off the hook because that is how a two-year-old behaves. The “terrible twos” let us get away with a lot of mischief.

As we mature, we have more rules…and more consequences…for our actions. These rules and consequences tend to be age appropriate.

Once we pass the threshold into adulthood, the only rules that are imposed have to do with actual laws and any social mores we may have been raised to follow.

Becoming parents puts the shoe on the other foot. Suddenly a comprehension of why there are rules and consequences in the first place begins to take shape.

Interestingly enough, what we have been through can detract or magnify our maturity. Thus, the phrase “act your age” can be a contradiction in terms. Are we to behave a certain way because we are a certain physical age? Or is anyone taking into account the fact that we may not have the wisdom or maturity to “literally act our age”.

Then there is also the understanding of what “our age” is supposed to act like.

Perhaps we can look at it like lanes on a highway. Just as the slow lane is to our right and each successive lane to the left must be going faster, so the “slow lane” is where immaturity and newfound wisdom begin. Then each successive lane to the left is viewed with more maturity and thus “acts their age.”

Our experiences and their outcomes can determine how much knowledge and maturity we gain. Therefore, seeking to be understood before defining one another by age might be the better ossification test.

“Even when I am old and gray do not forsake me.” Psalm 71:18