Enjoy this special devotional post, written for Mother's Day! May it serve as a reminder to go on living life to the fullest, no matter your age.
Before we begin, I want to encourage you with this truth, which I learned from a dear friend, Louise Looney, who happens to be in her nineties!
It’s never too late to live with purpose.
Louise Looney has written a book called Make the Rest of Your Days the Best of Your Days, and I really think she's on to something! No matter how old you might be, your best days are ahead of you.
Seasons. . .
I've been thinking about the seasons we go through—spring, summer, fall, and winter.
We have a lot to learn from the seasons of life, don't we? Let's take a look:
🌱 Spring: A Season of Planting and Potential
I got to thinking about it, and decided, the first twenty years or so of life are like the springtime. Everyone around us is planting seeds in us—our parents, our teachers, our grandparents, our aunts, uncles, and so on. We’re like soft soil—open, hungry to learn, full of dreams we don’t even understand yet. Every child is told, “You have so much potential! You can be anything you want when you grow up!” And when we’re kids, we believe it!
When I think of spring...
I think of my own childhood here in Texas. I lived in the Humble area, in a forested neighborhood, before there were super highways. I remember berry picking in the spring with my siblings and friends. We would grab our Easter buckets and head for the woods near our house, on a search for dewberries.
Over the next few hours we picked gallons of luscious, juicy berries. By the time we got home our fingers and mouths were purple, and we were covered in scratches from the thorns. Our feet were eaten up with ant bites. But we didn’t care. There was a sweet reward yet to come.
We passed those berries off to Mama and she turned them into the best cobbler you’ve ever tasted. There was something magical about it—like everything good and warm in the world had been tucked into that pan.
Everything was so simple and sweet in the springtime of my life. I laughed, I played, I didn’t worry about paying the bills or what to do if the car broke down. My identity was tied up in my parents. I was Bill and Shirley’s daughter. And that was enough.
But there was so much more to come!
Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) says: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord,
“plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”
God had a plan for me then, even when I was too small to imagine what that future might look like.
🌞 Summer: A Season of Bloom and Busyness
Summer comes next—roughly ages 20 to 50. This is the time of action. Of tending our homes, raising children, building careers, serving, doing, always on the go. Life is in full bloom.
During my summer season, I became a mom. Three beautiful daughters—Randi, Courtney, and Megan. I adopted a fourth daughter, also named Courtney.
During my summer season my identity changed! I was known as Randi’s mom. Courtney’s mom. Megan’s mom. And I didn’t mind a bit! In fact, I loved it.
There wasn’t a lot of time for berry picking, but I did take them a few times. Only, now I was the one wiping berry juice off their cheeks and pulling thorns from their socks. I was the one making the cobbler—my kitchen, my recipe, my table. (It was never as good as my mothers, though!)
My summer season with so many kids was busy and chaotic, but Galatians 6:9 (NIV) says:
Let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.
Nothing is wasted on God’s timetable. Every meal you made for those kids, every lesson you taught, every lunch you packed, every bedtime prayer you prayed—it all mattered. You were the one planting seeds in the next generation.
🍂 Autumn: A Season of Change and Reflection
Autumn is that next chapter—somewhere between 50 and 65. It’s the season of letting go, of realizing your job as a parent is shifting. Kids leave the nest, the pace slows, and sometimes you find yourself asking tough questions, like: What now? Who am I now?
It was hard to know how to identify myself when I entered my autumn season, and even more complicated because I went through a messy divorce. I wasn’t Bill and Shirley’s daughter. In fact, both of my parents passed away during my autumn season. I wasn’t anyone’s wife. I wasn’t really known as Randi, Courtney, and Megan’s mom, because they were off starting their own families.
But then, something magical happened: I became Nina—my grandkids’ name for Grandma. My daughters gave me nine grandchildren—six girls and three rowdy boys. And let me tell you, those kids kept me on my toes!
I still went berry picking—this time with grandkids. But I started noticing that berry picking wasn’t as easy as it used to be. The vines felt lower, the ground felt harder, my knees ached and popped. But I still made the cobbler. Because some things are worth the effort.
The autumn season gives us—wisdom. Experience. Perspective. We may not be as fast, but we are certainly wiser. And we have so much still to give. Psalm 90:12 (ESV) says: “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (I want to be wise! What about you?)
❄️ Winter: Our Season to Shine Like Gold
Finally, we enter winter, our golden years. Some people would say the best is behind us. I don’t believe that for a minute. I believe the rest of my days are the best of my days. I’m anticipating all of the good things to come, just like I did as a kid.
In my winter season, my identity is shifting once again. Not as daughter, wife, mother, and so on.
Now? Folks just know me as Janice. And, you know what? That’s enough, because I’m learning to be content in simply being who God made me to be.
I still make berry cobbler, by the way. You will find the recipe on this blog! Only now, I buy blackberries from HEB. (But, hey. . .no thorns or stickers!) It feels a little lonely at times. Sometimes I look at that warm cobbler on the counter and think… Who am I even making this for?
But I’ve come to realize—that’s not the point.
The point was never just the cobbler.
The point was always in blessing others and spending time together with those we love.
And you know what else I’ve learned?
There’s a reason they call these the golden years. Gold is precious. It’s refined by fire. It’s incredibly valuable. . .and so are you! This is why I love Louise’s book so much. It’s a reminder that your value doesn’t end as each new season begins. In fact, you become more valuable than ever.
Things I learned from my friend Louise:
- Laura Ingalls Wilder published Little House on the Prairie at 65.
- Grandma Moses didn’t pick up a paintbrush until she was 78.
By the way, my dear friend Martha Rogers (who has since passed away) published her first book at 75! I believe she went on to publish 16 books, in total. (Wow!)
No matter your age, your income, your health, or your circumstances—your life is still filled with potential, even in the winter season.
- You have the power to make someone laugh.
- With a listening ear or a simple hug, you can bring comfort to someone who’s hurting.
- You can pray for your family.
- You can bless someone with your words. (A hand-written note, a phone call)
- You can listen. Encourage.
- Best of all: You are filled with wisdom, which you can pass on to others. There are young women out there starving for older women to speak life into them. To encourage. To guide. To model strength and grace. And that makes you very powerful.
Psalm 92:14 says: “They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green.”
So go ahead and make the cobbler.
Even if your hands are slower.
Even if your table is smaller.
Even if you’re buying the berries instead of picking them yourself.
Make it anyway.
And share it.
Maybe with a lonely neighbor.
Maybe with a young mom.
Maybe with someone God puts in your path who just needs a taste of something warm, kind, and full of love.
Because you’re still here.
And God’s not done with you yet.