You reach maturity when you realize the things you thought were important… really aren’t worth the power you have placed upon them. Even if no one else ever opens it up, reading an old journal can be very embarrassing. You know that sense you get when you look at a photograph from a few decades ago? If you’re a woman you will blush at the big hair and bangs. If you’re a man you may notice the Cosby sweater and the pegged pants. Either way you are going to be muttering “What was I thinking?” With an old journal it’s similar but worse because you know exactly what you were thinking- it’s all recorded down for you on paper. And that makes it even more embarrassing. I don’t do it often but last night I flipped through the pages of several old notebooks. I worried about a lot back then. Does she like me? Will I get that job? How am I going to pay that bill. If I would have found a similar spiral notebook from high school the questions and issues would have been much the same, with maybe a few more references to prom and tests. And now, all of it- all those details and worries- handwritten in ink seem so unimportant. Somehow the bills got paid? Somehow the tests were passed- and I graduated. Somehow, even if she didn’t end up liking me or I didn’t end up getting the job, life still worked out. So what was all the worrying and foolishness about… in short, it was all caused by the fact that I was focused on the short-term goals rather than the long-term plan “The world and everything in it that people desire is passing away, but those who do the will of God will live forever.” 1st John 2:17 Of course, when we look back, it is easy to see how our thoughts missed the mark . The hard thing is to acknowledge that some of what I am worried about today will seem so small in the future. But here I go again- down the same worn out path that I’ve traveled so often- convincing myself once again that this time my worries are justified. And maybe you are going down that path, too. If so, today my prayer for you is that God will grant you with the perspective to view your issues and concerns with eyes that are five years down the road. Because that is the rights of passage, when you will cross over into a maturity that understands that what you think is important now- really doesn’t matter all that much in the end.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Dec 2014 14:00:50 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015