Many of us remember the song, Young at Heart, which states:

“Fairy tales can come true, it can happen to you, if you’re young at heart… and life gets more exciting with each passing day…”

As Christians we don’t live in fairy tales, we live faith tales – we have adventures in faith. The idea of a young heart is true, though. Maintaining a “young at heart” attitude is very important. Your entire life actually depends on your living “young at heart” and realizing that life can and does get more exciting with each passing day – if you allow it to.  It’s up to YOU.

First off, did you know God’s ideal for humans to age to is 120? Did you know science* has been proving that soon most humans will live to – yep – 120 – and live it very well? Living healthy, productive lives? Do you realize that 80-ish is dying too young?

While doing some research, I came across this statement: “New adventures await everyone, regardless of age.”  Did you get that? …regardless of age.  With the right attitude you’ve got a lot of living to do, with adventures in faith!

I remember thinking that when I turned 30, life (real life, fun, enjoyment) was over. This is true for so many people.  They get depressed and decide life will begin to deteriorate from that point (30’s-40’s) forward. Most people are conditioned to believe that the age of 30 is old and the beginning of the end. The sad thing is, for them this is true.

It is as if life is only good and exciting in our teens and 20’s. OH HECK NO! I beg to differ. I remember those ages very well, and I am here to tell you, I wouldn’t go back to those ages for any amount of money.

People who think OLD are people begin to tell “old” jokes, complaining about “brain farts” (times you might forget something), thinking they’re being funny. They do not realize how dangerous that is. And even if you retire from a particular job, your attitude doesn’t have to be: “IT’S OVER.”

Think of these two extremes:  My dad, due to new company policies, was force-retired at the age of 63.  He wasn’t ready and he almost got sucked into depression but he wasn’t a negative person.  He was offered a temporary job in the same field he worked in previously and took it.  That temporary job turned into a permanent job that lasted another almost 20 years before he moved on to heaven at 82.

He was fulfilled, youthful, happy and satisfied (Psalms 91:16a). He was productive and helped others.  He lived another 20 years active, healthy, energetic, and blessed those of us around him. He lived “young at heart”.

On the opposite end, I had a friend (most of them, actually) confess to me, “I’m getting so old and I just can’t move like I used to” when she turned 35.  The sad thing is that now, over 20 years later, that friend got old. She had sickness slow her down. Her joint began aching. She was not energetic. She began having trouble thinking coherently.

Look at the difference between those two people and their last twenty years. Which would you rather be like?

Every negative statement she made in her 30’s manifested. Everything began going downhill in her life the more she confessed negative age-related, health-related statements. She lived what she confessed. Realize, she said negative things and made jokes all the time. She was not “young at heart”.

Proverbs 23:7, Easy to Read translation: The tongue can speak words that bring life or death. Those who love to talk must be ready to accept what it brings.

All throughout the Bible God says that what you think about, what you focus on, what you surround yourself with, that is what you will become. What you think and speak is far more vital than most people believe. What you think and talk about will lead to life or lead to death.

We are inward beings. Second Corinthians 4:16 states that our “inward man in renewed day by day.” Ephesians 4 talks about how it is important what we speak and think. Luke 6:45 indicates that out of the abundance of your heart, your mouth speaks – in other words, what you put in you, what’s in there in abundance, is what’s going to come out of your mouth!

We need to be careful what we feed on – what we spend time thinking about, what we spend time doing, what we watch, what we listen to, what we read, and who we hang out with (associations). Watch enough negative television, read enough negative articles and books, hang out with negative people and you will think, speak and act negatively. Everything affects our thought life.

So if you want to live young at heart, to live a long, healthy, prosperous life, if you want to be able to attack those new adventures that await you, then be sure and guard your mouth. Watch what you read, watch, and hear. Examine your associations and cut out any that are negative and stressful.

Choose to think about and speak LIFE into your own life! BE young at heart!

“And if you should survive to 105, / Look at all you’ll derive out of being alive! / And here is the best part, you have a head start / If you are among the very young at heart.…”

Genesis 6:3
2 Cor 4 16
Proverbs 23:7
Proverbs 18:21
Deuteronomy 30:19
Psalm 91:16

*Google “live to 120” – there are over 531,000,000 results; articles, websites, etc. My article was by Yahoo! Health over 8 years ago.