Moving along in your sixth decade allows you time for reflection.  Just typing the words of being in my sixth decade seems hard to swallow.  Forcing your mind to think on such facts may be painful but it does pay off.  Liberation comes to mind when realizing how long that truly is.  It's old enough to know better yet young enough to still try it as the bumper sticker says.  Maybe all of us are the sum total of several people over the years.  You cannot escape the influence of those growing up years no matter how much you try.  We entered the young adult era believing we could make a name for ourselves unlike any other.  Now is the period for evaluation for the next part of the journey.  No wonder life can seem so confusing!


There is a certain type of serenity one should gain at this point of the adventure.  You are old enough to know who you are as well as who you aren't.  But there is still the occasion for internal conflict when you get cross with that knowledge.  Look at people all around you desperate to hold onto the illusion of youth.  Notice far too many whose emotions lag behind their birth certificate.  Rather than embrace the wisdom of time we may settle for a perspective that never comes to grip with reality.  Don't get me wrong here.  Count me as one who attempts to keep his physical health as good as it can be.  Just be sure you note my awareness that health in one area of life is no promise for avoiding the bad.  


At my age one should be aware of what can still be changed and what remains entrenched in place.  There is always room to grow or discover more.  Being alive means embracing that opportunity.  When you deceive yourself to imagine you know it all is when you stop living.  Most of my theology is fairly set in stone by now.  Much of my views on all things in life exist with a degree of certitude.  What is left are the many times when God may surprise us with fresh lessons that pull all of the above together.  Few things thrill me as much as being in the midst of uncovering a new truth to apply to my years.  It saves you the headache of waging war at windmills that never were a threat.


It sounds like a country song to write that most people exist while few truly live.  Is there anything more tragic than that?  It makes little sense to deny the aches and pains which increase every year.  But can we not see how our troubles can be self inflicted when we ignore the wisdom of our years?  We should not go quietly into the night as the poet wrote.  Let us rage against the injustice and evil within our world.  But also let us count each day as blessed.  Let us discover every single day who we are still becoming.  Such is the stuff of a life well lived.


Bro. Trey