A few things I've learned

I turn seventy-one today. On their birthday, I like to ask others what they’ve learned. So…I guess I should be asking myself the same question. With more years behind me than before me, I can confidently share a few things:

• The things I thought were so important when I was younger aren’t.
• I wasted a lot of time trying to make myself happy instead of being content with what I had.
• None of those things that I thought would make me happy did.
• It’s never about the money; always about what the money represents. When we surrender that, life gets less complicated, and decisions get easier.
• Most of my pain, disappointments, and frustrations came from things not being the way I wanted them to be. So long as I indulged myself in those behaviors, things would continue to worsen. I found peace when I began to accept things for what they are. This is a lesson I am still learning.
• I thought I believed God was sovereign, but I had a hard time acting like it. I’m still not sure I’ve learned that lesson yet.
• There’s always…always…more to learn.
• I really did feel like I was invincible, right up to the time I realized that, after getting down on the floor to look under our dresser, I was having a hard time getting back up!
• I should have spent more time bouncing my kids on my knee than balancing my checkbook.
• I should have started the daily reading of my Bible decades sooner.
• I should have spent more time verifying what I heard rather than just accepting it to be true. It would have saved a multitude of embarrassments.
• It’s far better, healthier, and easier to encourage others than to promote yourself.
• Holding on to hurt and failing to forgive others is a self-imposed prison sentence. It never makes them better people, and it always makes me worse and dark.
• Worrying over my circumstances is a self-consuming activity.
• Mistakes are learning opportunities, not setbacks. It’s far easier to own up to them than it is to ignore them or blame someone else.
• Faith is important. That becomes more obvious as eternity draws near, and you realize there are fewer earthly things worth holding on to.
• It’s far better and safer to believe God is who He says He is in Scripture than trying to make Him up myself. When I try to make Him up myself, He always ends up looking a lot like me.
• Living righteously is hard. Living self-righteously is far too easy and self-destructive.
• Marriage is hard, maybe the hardest thing I’ve done. But, by every measure, it’s worth it and more glorious than I ever could have imagined. It keeps getting better!
• I used to fear getting old. Now I cherish it. At this age, I wouldn’t trade where God has brought me for any other period in my life. These are the “good old days.” I want to relish them, enjoy them, keep learning from them, and immerse myself in all the blessings I’ve received over the last seventy-one years, putting all the hardships, bruises, hurts, and shortcomings behind me. They are nothing compared to what I have now, and God has used each one of them to teach me, guide me, and lovingly move me forward.
• I’m really looking forward to the time I have left. I’m fond of saying, “I can’t see the end of the road. But I’m acutely aware, like never before, that it is out there.” I pray to have the strength to finish well.