So today I turned 26. I jokingly tell people that I'm now "almost 30" because the next milestone for me is the big 3-0. In retrospect, all the other milestones carry something truly significant to one's life...but what do I have to look forward to now but getting older?
Age 1 - big deal because it's your FIRST BIRTHDAY EVER
Age 5 - most people start school
Age 10 - your double digits now, boy!
Age 13 - officially a teenager...
Age 16 - hand over the keys mom, I'm goin' cruisin' in the minivan!
Age 18 - smokes, porn, and the armed forces...they kinda seem to all go hand in hand
Age 21 - finally buying suds...legally
Age 25 - get a little brake on your car insurance (assuming you're a good driver)
But what now? Everything from here out is just a milestone of getting older. I guess 30 could be the age of a midlife crisis. But then, what exactly is that? You go pretend to be younger and hipper than you actually are because you realize you're losing grip with your youth! 40 is the big "over the hill" year because you've accepted that you're probably now closer to the year of your death than the year of your birth.
But in the end, I don't think it's our age that defines who we are. Rather, it's what we do with the time the Lord gives us that will be our legacy. Nobody is going to remember my crazy 21st birthday gig once we're all dead and gone. But those we leave behind will (hopefully) have great and inspiring memories of who we were and the impact we made in the world.
I am just beginning to taste what life as a dad has in store for me. My boys are rowdy and rambunctious when they get rowled up. But they're also sweet and compassionate and deliberately lovable when they wind down. The recent incident with Ian and his stitches has made me a little bit anxious about what the future holds for them, but I can't wait to be there to experience it all. Its a right of passage for boys.
Just as the scars we bare on our flesh remind us where we've been and how to not make that mistake again...or at least to be more careful, the emotional scars we keep hidden help guide us to be better people. And I think that the Lord allows us to get bruised up and cut up from time to time so that we can also remember who it is that picks us up when we fall, and who it is that mends our wounded hearts.
I know there will be terrific and terrifying adventures ahead, and that those will now be the milestones of my life. Maybe that's what its about when you cross the "25 threshold". Maybe my life has finally begun. And to those adventures ahead...I say, "bring it on"...
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Well said ... perhaps you ARE a year older and a year wiser! But, 30 isn't necessarily when the midlife crisis hits. And 40 is ... well, it's not THAT old! Is it? Hmm.
ReplyDeleteWeirdly I'm actually excited about being closer to 30 than 20 (maybe that's because I'm not very far away from 27). The 30s are such a good age As long as people are living these days, 30 really is the new 20 and 40 is the new 30.
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