64

64

By John W. Vander Velden

It seems that birthdays are among those times that sends our minds to thinkin’.  We look toward the future, but it seems a time we dwell on our past.  Nothing odd in considering the road that
has brought us to this particular mile marker.  I don’t think we should forget the steps taken, and the steps not taken.  Life to me is a journey…and mine is not finished…not by a long shot.  God willin’.  Of course none of us know how much pavement lies ahead of us, or all the bumps and “chuck” holes either.  Makes the trip interesting.  Maybe that is why I look backward as much as I do.  It’s like hiking up a mountain trail with its twists and turns.  You can’t see but a few yards in front of you, but you are all too familiar with the sweat and strain that you have expended.  It is only when you reach a clearing and see just how high you have reached that it seems worth the effort.

I guess my life is like that.  Each day I scurry along doing all the things that “I” think need to be accomplished.  In the hustle I don’t take the time to see things very clearly.  But as my birthday approaches, I reach the clearing, take a moment, and I can see just how high I have come.  Like I said birthdays can do that to a guy.  It upsets Jackie that I do not place greater value on who I am and what I have achieved.  But it is my nature…and I don’t think that humility is a bad thing.  But the truth is when I look in the mirror I see my failings all too well.  I see someone that has not worked hard enough…someone that has failed many times…someone that should be bolder…I see me, “warts and all”.  Too often I focus on the stumbles ignoring most of the forward strides. 

Maybe birthdays are a good time to stop…catch a breath…look HONESTLY…to acknowledge just how far we have come.  On Monday I will have climbed that mountain trail for 64 years.  I will stop, if only for a few minutes, to take in the view.  I will ignore the small voice that says “but what if”, and take in the magnificent panorama of thousands of small accomplishments, “the what ares”, that have step by step brought me to this place.  I will consider my talents, gifts that God has given, that make me unique.  But I will also look forward, understand that I yet have “something” to do.  That my “growth” has not ended, and a grander view awaits just out of sight but before me.

On Monday I will be 64…and if God ain’t done with me…well then…I ain’t done either!

(478 Words)       2-3-2016