I Turn Sixty Today

I turn sixty today. Sixty. Wow. How did that happen? It’s not that I’m particularly bothered by it. That’s not the point. It’s just – well, sixty.

I still remember when my mother turned thirty, and my father forty. When Jeanne and I were married in 1974 Mom was forty-three and Dad was fifty-two. Sixty was still noticeably older than each of them at the time.

I remember when sixty seemed old.

Anticipating turning sixty has put me in reflective mode.

Someone fifteen years or so older than I am said to me recently that when I wake up the day after I turn sixty it will be . . . Friday. In other words, just another day. I agree, of course; nonetheless it is one of those milestones in life that has me thinking more about certain things:

• I think more these days about finishing well and what I hope that will look like.

• This is the decade in which I am likely to begin collecting Social Security and a pension.

• I’m still focused on my family, a very important part of my life, but the kids that are growing up too quickly are my grandkids, not my kids.

• I think more about what I’m grateful for in life, more about what I have than what I want, what it’s time to start getting rid of.

• I’m more aware than ever before about how blessed I am to have found my life partner so many years ago, that I’ve done more life with her than with anyone else on the planet, and that it’s way too painful for me even to imagine doing life without her.

• I’m keenly aware of how blessed I am to do what I do vocationally, something that I truly love.

• When I first began my ministry, I wasn’t much older than most of the brides and grooms whose weddings I officiated. Now most of them have parents who are younger than I am.

• I’m very aware that the most valuable assets I have accumulated in life have no material value at all: relationships with family, with friends, experiences of joy and pain and success and disappointment that have shaped who I have become.

• I look at young people as one of the best opportunities for me to make an investment with my life. It’s immensely gratifying to have even a small role in seeing them develop, to see them use their giftedness and to begin to realize their own potential.

• I’m not as “together” at sixty as I used to think I would be. I’m still very much a broken guy in need of God’s grace. I still make mistakes. I’m still out of shape. Much of the time I’m as compassionate toward those who are hurting as one can be and yet there are times when I’m unwittingly insensitive, even distant. I feel like I have tremendous depth in my faith, while at times I still struggle.

So, there you have it:Reflections from One Who Just Turned Sixty.

I wasn’t exactly sure where this was going when I began to write. I like where I am. I’m grateful for those with whom I’m sharing the journey. I believe more than ever that God is good, and that in that man named Jesus through whom God entered into human experience is the ultimate hope for the world. I’m deeply grateful that I have come to know him as I do.

See you in church. By the way that’s not just the way I typically close my column. Every Sunday I really hope I do.

Grace and Peace,