Growing Young
I have gratefully owned my 45th birthday, and I am more filled with awe and wonder than ever. Each moment and minute breathes into me such zest and passion for this brilliant life.
In reflection, I can say with certainty that years 40-45 have felt monumentally better than years 30-35. I have found significantly better rhythms for my mind, body and soul, and this has radically shaped and reshaped me. I feel younger and stronger, and far more passionate about purpose.
I continue to be educated on how to pull apart the narrow version of success from the broad and beautiful experience of awe and wonder.
And that’s what I’m after. Awe and wonder. There is no mistaking the Divine has delivered… in abundance.
More and more I am finding satisfaction in simply doing the work I have been invited to do. I don’t get to control the outcome or how people receive the work. My job is to simply create, write, teach, and then let it soar into the unknown. Putting a period at the end of the sentence, closing the computer, and saying a closing blessing is the joy. Waiting for feedback continues to be an adventure in missing the point, and yet it is all too easy to chase that rascally rabbit. As one of those Disney characters once sang, “Let it go.” No, I don’t her name, but I do know it’s that Frozen movie. 😬
Out of my 45 years on this earth, I have been married to Sarah for 17. She has taught me much. She has loved the lostness out of me and kissed sweet character into me.
Better.
Each day is better than the day before, thanks Sarah.
My three sons continue to be such teachers for me, and I can’t help but leak gratitude for their energy and unique expressions of love. For me, to move from a boy without a dad into a man who has been given the gift of three sons… it’s pure magic. To be tasked with guiding them in our crafty, cranky, and camera always on culture is no joke. To model and teach a heart hungering for justice and mercy, service and selflessness in order to participate in the restoration and renewal of original goodness… well… that takes Divine provision and power. To think otherwise is the first step into the supersized self-focused society surging all around us.
Humility. Honesty. and a deft Vulnerability. Boys, this dance takes years of practice and piles of patience. I am but an amateur, so watch carefully… and then far more closely at your mom and grandparents. 😬
Forgiveness. Many have said it and many more take credit for it, but I will simply grasp for the eternal truth within these words:
“Forgiveness is to let go of our hope for a different past.”
Hurt and pain, and those who have chosen the two of you in acts and words toward me, you are forgiven. You are back there and I choose to be here.
The past is but a teacher, the future is where I store my hope, and the present is where I place my feet. I have this day, the first day in year 46. What a ridiculous gift! Seriously, to have the right here and right now… this reality pulls a smile on my face and paints a glow on my soul. Grace and Peace friends.
