Yesterday was my birthday and I turned 41. For the past few weeks, I realized something, I am getting old :D. No kidding.
Whereas I once view myself as the 20 something who go out and do something, I realized I have more responsibility to consider. Mind you, this may sound like a bad thing, as the culture often tells us that we have no life once we are married or have kids. We are told, or we tell ourselves, that we can’t pursue our dreams or our passion.
In a way, it is true. I can’t just go out now and ride a 4-hour bike ride. Heck, I am thankful (thankful to my wife for watching the kiddies) if I can go for an hour on my bike.
However, I’ve gained so much more turning 40, especially becoming a father, which I will never give up. Especially spending time with my children and teaching them life. I remembered two years ago; I was training Sarah-Faith how to step on and off the escalator.
So there we were in the mall, going up and down the same set of escalators over and over again with me clutching her little hand and telling her when to step off and step on. Since then, she picked that up and learned a lot more!
The joy I have from teaching her and seeing her figure it out is the same, if not more joyful, than those adrenaline high rushes I had from my long bike rides back in triathlon days.
And so, here is my realization. I am in a different life stage. I tried not to look at life just one year at a time. Instead, I am looking at it in stages.
Turning 41 is a miracle on its own, especially when I had a liver transplant when I was 10. A miracle in a sense that God ordains every day I have. In which I am thankful to be alive.
Now I am in the 40-60 stage. I may not be as active as before. But I also gained a lot more wisdom along the way. Those younger days where I was too emotional or dramatic are gone. I’ve made mistakes and made a few ‘successes’ along the way.
Now in this stage, this is probably the last stage I can be to be productive, especially to the Lord. This is probably the last stage to serve the Lord with rigor.