Life is an amazing journey and, for me, one of the things that plays the dual role of fascinating me but shaking me up is when something I held onto as a belief is shattered completely. Unlearning learned beliefs is both exhilarating and a little scary. Growing up, I used to look at my parents and think that they had it all together and that they knew everything. Being an adult myself now, I can kind of see why sometimes parents need to portray the idea that they know more than they really do. Growing up is not easy. It’s an interesting dynamic and one that isn’t easy to explain. My view of life was that the older you become, the better life becomes and the more everything lines up. The older you get, the more mature, the kinder, the wiser and more successful you become. I suppose, without realising I was doing it, I started to tie my entire life into waiting till I got older. That was a big mistake though because, as I’ve learnt, that’s not really how life works.
I recently was fortunate enough to be caught in the crossfire of a spat between two friends of mine (I say ‘fortunate’ here, not because this exchange was pleasant but only because it was a learning opportunity and I love to learn, even hard lessons). Anyway, this tension came to a head in a showdown this week and, as I sat in on the meeting, it became abundantly clear to me that they were not going to make peace. What, I suppose, frightened me even more, was the fact that they are older than I am and they are people I looked up to in some way. But, after that meeting, I came away quite disappointed and let down by them and the way they handled matters. On that day, I stopped using age as a measure of respectability and/or ‘centeredness’ and realized that, in a way, I’d been short-changing myself by placing any kind of hope about growth or improvement solely in the passage of time.
We often hear little ones say, “When I grow up, I want to be such and such” and there’s really nothing wrong with that. Yes, it’s important to dream. There’s no substitute to imagining how things can be. A life without imagination is an empty, directionless one. Of course, it’s true that some dreams take time to fully manifest and not everything we desire or aim for can happen today. Sometimes, time has the almighty ability to test how genuinely we want what we say we want and to reveal to us (and others) who we are. So, that means there must be a delicate balance then.
Let’s dream big and go for the best. Let’s grow and improve ourselves in every possible way. But in doing that, we must not place so much hope in the future as a destination that we neglect to enjoy the present and savor every moment we have. Life is happening right now and what we have now is probably just as important as what we hope for in the future. Establishing this delicate balance doesn’t come easy, everyday unexpected events take place which have the potential to through us off balance and lose focus or excitement to live altogether. We believe that knowing God and relying on His strength, is where comes stability to live a balanced life. If you have questions or comments, or would like to know God, please click on the banner below.