The other day I heard a radio announcer say, “Today is the youngest you will ever be.” Gave me a little pause in my thinking.

Over the summer our first grandchild was born. We saw her and held her when she was just turning a day old. Twenty-four hours breathing in the air of the earth. That’s young. In holding new babies I always think of our dearest friend who stayed with our toddler when his brother was born. I was very blessed with easy labors and deliveries and so while our second son came in the late night, by early morning I was ready to head home. When we arrived home, our friend was amazed, especially when she held him- “I never have held a baby this young (he was about six hours old). It’s like you went out to the store and picked him up.”

Newborns. The possibilities and opportunities seem endless. While I am cognizant that in some areas of the world and even in our country due to socioeconomics or religious standing, that may not be the sentiment towards new life. Yet I still wonder, even in the most hopeless place, when there is the gift of new life that there isn’t the glimmer of thought and hope that this child will make it. That this child will have opportunities. That this child will make a difference.

LinkedIn has numerous posts of “letters to my 22 year-old-self”. I’ve attended various seminars where this activity is offered as a way to help focus one’s priorities and goals. Knowing what you know now, what would you tell your former self. What lessons have you learned that you can apply going forward. The age one picks really doesn’t matter. Twenty-two is an age where one is now an official adult yet still “innocent” of the world.

I stumbled across one such letter written in 2014 by Rimjhin Ray co-founder of Heyo Phone. He tells his 22 year-old self that you can change the world. Mostly you need to have more conviction that you can. You are innocent enough to counter the jaded older naysayers if you only believe in yourself. For many of us who are older and thus experienced more of the bumps and problems of the world, we most likely no longer believe that the world can be changed. Yet, if we think that we are the youngest we will ever be, we can be optimistic for a future and a hope. (You can read his “letter” here.)

If today is the youngest we will ever be and that each day passing we are older and older, what would we say to our today, seventy-year old self, our fifty-eight year old self, our forty-two year old self? If we recognize that this is the youngest age we are living and that this day will soon pass, what would we do differently? Or do we need to do anything differently?

Would we tell that young self- go for it, take the risk; talk to your neighbors; start that business; write that book; visit that place; share the Gospel; reconnect with family or old friends; say and do what you have been itching to do but too afraid; begin what you have been putting off.

What about you? Have you even thought about today being your youngest version of yourself? What would you like to achieve going forward? What would you like to learn? What plans do you feel God is calling you to do?

The thing about being the “youngest” (to which I can attest- not only in my birth family but it always seemed in whatever group I was in), there are some great positives- namely you get to witness how people responded to their past and have an opportunity to pick and choose the best practice for yourself. You can become a sponge for learning all new possibilities. Like a newborn, you can bring the wonder and hope into a desperately needy world.