Is it a sign of approaching 50 that these things seem to be coming around way too quickly:
- filing tax returns
- putting up Christmas lights
- taking down Christmas lights
- paying the monthly bills
while these things seem to be coming way too slowly:
- summer breaks
- family reunions
- date nights
Got to hear Philip Kenneson last night at ACU. His book, Life on the Vine, should be studied at every church!
I’ve heard 40 is the new 30, so I guess that means 50 is the new 40. I’m approaching 40, wow that hurts to say that. But I would agree with all of the above, especially that annoying tax return (and I’m a CPA)!
Wait just a cotton-pickin’ minute!
I am a little more than half of 50, but have two children who make the days fly by, and those occurrences which are ttoo fast and too slow is a shared phenomenon with parents! I can’t believe that my daughter is getting ready for kindergarten already - I blinked when she was a baby and here we are!
Philip D. Kenneson’s book is fantastic. We used it for a church wide study two years ago and it was well received. Our children’s minister even adapted it for the elementary grades.
I wrote study guides to go along with each lesson. I have these if anyone would like to use them.
I wrote Philip an email at the time but never received a response.
Was his presentation taped?
Peace.
I found the place to order cds of Summitt 2006 where Kenneson spoke.
It’s here:
http://www.acu.edu/events/summit/order.html
Peace
Missed yesterday’s blog entry and could not possible live with myself without saying, “Lynn Anderson, we love you.” It was just about 5 years ago in my living room in Dallas that he sat and comforted us during a painful time in ministry and gave us hope to go on. That is just one thing among many…we love his sense of humor, his never ending energy and creativity, his love and appreciation for ministers and their families….and simply because he is a foreigner!
I’m only 23 but filing taxes always comes too quickly for me. And college football and MLB baseball are always way too slow in coming.
I spent several weeks studying Life on the Vine with high school students.
I’ll be 36 later this year and I have to tell you that Birthdays seem to be sneaking up on me at a more frequent pace. Also, the seasons seem to be getting shorter as well - even the two seasons of Summer and the three weeks of Fall in Texas seem shorter.
Gone are the days of asking “are we there yet?” and now I find myself saying “have I really been here two years?”
Someone please bring back “Date Night”!!
Sounds like you may be having an “Ecclesiastes Moment” (”The wind blows to the south and turns to the north;round and round it goes, ever returning to its course.”)
I seem to be having more and more of those as I move through my 40s. Thank God (literally) for the Gospel.
I can identify… but I particularly like that country song line “there’s too much month at the end of the money…” What a fine country hook! Got me to thinking of our linear lives where time and money are running in parallel lines and the money one keeps stopping short… But what is it we want? It’s really pretty useless for the time one to stop short with a bunch of money still there (that’s the bigger barn building guy). I think the problem is seeing life as money and time (both very temporal things). What was it Jesus said… “seek first the kingdom…” yeah, then who cares which runs out first! Still have to pay those bills though…
sorry so philosophical this morning!
A friend told me that when thinking of time, you should always multiply by 3 . . . “We saw them last year, right?” would = “We saw them 3 years ago.” and “I saw that movie last month” = “I saw that movie 3 months ago.”
Try it. It really works.
However, when one has a very hard year — it seems to just crawl by — like, “Was it only one year ago that I was planning a trip to Alabama to see my parents and be there for Mother’s Day and her 80th birthday? . . .” It seems like at least 3 years.
Life is funny.
Three of my kids (14, 16, & 18) were complaining this week about how fast time seems to go by. I think they’re getting a little ahead of themselves.
Since it seems that people now put up their Christmas lights sometime in mid-August I can understand how it comes more quickly.
To quote Loudon Wainwright:
Suddenly it’s Christmas, just after Halloween;
Forget about Thanksgiving, it’s just a buffet in between.
Since this appears to be a very “It’s Friday” type of blog, I feel comfortable in including this link. Mike, it reminds me of the video you and Randy showed at Tulsa (after the tech guys finally got around to it).
http://dpmediagroup.com/ericwallace.com/slrev/SLREV_WM.wmv
Yep! Time is definitely different as you age. It’s whizzing by for me but I’m hanging on and enjoying the ride.
Kate
Mike, just because you’re about to be admitted entrance to the Half-Century Club doesn’t mean it’s time for you to cur the death-knoll yet! Lot’s of fun and games await you — the kind that only a certain sageness can truly appreciate and savour (like a really fine, ROBUST wine)!
Embrace it, buddy!
That’s ‘toll the death-knell’ … and just one example of the robust twist on words and spellings you’re allowed when you gain membership into the Half-Century Club!
Mike,
Kim and I love our date night once a week. We paid someone one to put up our Christmas lights because our roof is high and steep. This increased our monthly bills but cut out the taking them down step thus giving more time for a date…
Plus it kept me out of the hospital!
Mike,
Phil’s talk this morning was even better. He spoke of three things being shaped by culture (The What): Desires, Convictions, and Virtues. He then spoke of three things shaping the what (The How): Stories, Practices, and Institutions. It was great. He challenged us with the haunting question of whether we are paying attention to the ways we are being formed and whether we are helping each other navigate the different forces that are making their mark on us.
There are so many assumptions we bring to Christianity that go unchallenged. For example: Does effort always equal success? Can ambition and humility coexist? Is the “American Dream” decidedly Christian? We sure expend a lot of energy on it. What are we being taught to trust in? Are the American virtues of convenience, efficiency, and speed Christian virtues? What do our practices actually highlight about our desires, convictions and virtues? What institutions have lost their purpose and are now merely living to perpetuate themselves? Do we have our story straight?
I would recommend Kenneson’s two lectures to anyone interested in beginning the conversation about the relationship between Christianity and Culture. You can order them here http://www.acu.edu/events/summit/order.html
jest goes to show why bein a redneck has it’s benefits.
You know age is taking its toll when immediate thoughts were distracted by earlier comment that included words “aging” and “whizzing…”
One positive thing about our growing older and kids growing up is that date nights can happen more frequently again. So, of course, keep savoring Chris’ time at home, but let the anticipation of more dates with Diane be a treasure to look forward to as time keeps flying by.
KathyS
Mike-
I’m sure you noticed this, but I really think it’s right that the items that are a drag are about life are THINGS, while the items that make us love life have to do mostly with the PEOPLE we share with. Guess that’s our sign….
Why you taking down your Christmas lights? Next thing you know you’ll be making your bed.
Hi Mike,
You have never met me, but you met my Dad, Don Altman, at lunch Friday, as he was sitting across the table from you and Dwight Robarts. My Dad told me that he toldyou about me. My name is Donna Altman. Just moved back to Abilene October 2005 after living 14 years in the Fort Walton Beach/Destin, Florida area. I was born with Spastic Cerebral Palsy. I will be 49 in September. (You may know my brother, Russ Altman, as he works with the softball teams.) I started reading your blog when your son Chris was sick and in the hospital. I’ve read your blog every day since January, 2005. I love Megan, even though I never knew her. I wish I did know her, but I will when I get to Heaven one day. Megan has blessed my life through what you say about her.
Thank you for telling her story. (Jim & Jody Reese, Jack & Jeanene Reese are dear friends. I served at Jim & Jody’s & Jack & Jeanene’s weddings. Jim & Jody use to stay with me when my folks went out of town.) I look forward to meeing you sometime. Thank you for ministering to me and my life through your blog. Donna Altman
Time flies by crazy quick. Although it was one year ago that Jack was diagnosed with his brain tumor and it seems like this one year has lasted forever. I always said that same thing about the first year my twins were born, I do think I have a theory for that one though. In a normal year I will sleep about 8 hours a night, so my days were 16 hours long, then I was a new mom to twins who I was the source of food, hence my days started lasting to about 22 waking hours, so I really got an extra couple of months of awake time, so therefore that year really did last longer.
Age is just a number…and I’ve earned every one I have and am proud to be able to live to tell about it! The Lord is Good and I thank Him that as I get older, so do my kids and date nights and fun times with my husband can be more and more frequent without the worry of a babysitter (of course, there are other concerns for my children, but none that I can do anything about except lay them at God’s feet and pray aobut them). Thanks, Mike for putting a note on my blog the other day that you would pray for my children. That means a lot to me. I know you don’t remember me personally, but I never missed a Spring Sing or Homecoming and various other thimes when you were preaching in Searcy (still don’t if I can help it) and I always looked forward to hearing you speak and playing with my friends there (Mike and Beth James, Gene and Beckie Weaver, Dan and Keri Tullos, the Barnabas class pretty much as a whole)…now I look forward to Zoe every year.
Not sure where I first heard the comment, but your post reminded me of it. “Parenthood makes for long days and short years.”
Truer words are rarely spoken.
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