Milestones

Milestones…. I’m in Memphis this weekend. My wife requested that I accompany her as she celebrates her 45-year high school reunion. Which means in a couple months I will have known her for forty-five years. We met at college, our freshman year, in speech class. I thought she was cute; she thought I was funny. We dated some, then not for a while, then locked it in our junior year and got married three weeks after graduation, young and dumb and in love.
 
Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, “I find no pleasure in them”— before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark, and the clouds return after the rain; when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men stoop, when the grinders cease because they are few, and those looking through the windows grow dim…  –Ecclesiastes 12:1-3 (NIV)
 
Four grown children. Six addresses. Nineteen vehicles. Four churches. Seven jobs. And a whole lot of life, filled with laughter, tears, ball games, dance recitals, school programs, choir concerts, emergency room visits, financial setbacks, bedtime Bible stories, mealtime prayers, the birth of grandbabies, lessons learned and taught. Regrets, yes. But far outweighed by the blessings of a life where I never doubted the hand of God upon me.
 
When the doors to the street are closed and the sound of grinding fades; when people rise up at the sound of birds,  but all their songs grow faint; when people are afraid of heights and of dangers in the streets; when the almond tree blossoms and the grasshopper drags itself along and desire no longer is stirred. Then people go to their eternal home and mourners go about the streets.  –Ecclesiastes 12:4-5 (NIV)
 
Sometimes that hand felt heavy. Often it was a delight. Sometimes, I couldn’t see it and had to take the next step hoping that hand would catch me. It always has. Now I find myself tending increasingly to the needs of my father, who is fond of saying, “Well, we’ve just never done this before.” And he’s right. There may be nothing new under the sun, but the seasons of life are new to each generation who hasn’t been there yet.
 
Remember him—before the silver cord is severed, and the golden bowl is broken; before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, and the wheel broken at the well, and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.  –Ecclesiastes 12:6-7 (NIV)
 
I don’t hear as well as I once did. I wake up in the morning and take inventory of what’s working and what’s hurting today. I’m closer to the end of my race than I am to the start. But I want to finish well. I want to leave a positive impact. I want to focus on things that matter. I want to love my wife well. I want to be a good friend. I want to be a good son and a good Dad and a good Pop. Most of all, I want to be a picture of Jesus.
 
Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.  –Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 (NIV)