In a couple of days I will have one of th0se "benchmark" birthdays. This birthday has a zero in it, but does not have a 3,4 or 5. I must admit that for the first time, instead of thinking about all the things that need to be accomplished in the next few years, I have been much more reflective about what has already taken place, and what I could have done better. Don't get me wrong, this is not retirement time, I know I have some great years in front of me and I have plenty of energy. But I know I also want to factor in the time and energy to make sure that all of the positive influence I can exert, gets to the people I love and care about.
We have a plaque with the saying, "A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove...but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child". Looking back, I hope this has been true in my life. A weeks ago I re-connected with a young man from one of the youth groups that we pastored. He wrote this on my Facebook wall: "I just wanted you to know that, at a time when I was in your college group, grinding away at college and feeling overwhelmed, you told me you were proud of me because I wasn't just killing time like a lot of the others but was actually trying to get an education. It was exactly the time I needed to hear that and...it gave me such encouragement to keep going even though I felt like I was missing out of a lot of the "fun" by having to go to school. So, YOU have a big part in my accomplishment and I wish you could have been here for my swearing-in." Today Tony is a Superior Court judge in California.
More musings later...
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