Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Gettin’ Old!

Core Thought: Humbling can come upon you when you least expect it!

One of the things I did on vacation was to walk around Clemson taking night pictures. The campus was pretty much abandoned since the new semester hadn’t started. When I say “abandoned,” I mean I didn’t see anyone for 15 to 20 minute stretches; and when I did, it was usually a campus police car…I’m surprised they didn’t stop me since I might have looked suspicious moving around the campus with my tripod and all.

As to the “humbling” experience. When I was at Clemson way back in the dark ages (i.e. the late 70’s), I worked in the campus photo lab, and one of my more enjoyable tasks was taking photos for freshman orientation. I remembered one shot from the top of an exterior staircase...this one:

I went to recreate the shot, only to find the clear vista of the 70’s to be completely obscured by a tree! See...


Trees don’t grow over night, so it reminded me immediately of my own aging process! It hit me that I stand at the verge of the half century mark!

All this from a tree!!! And the tree reminded me of grass, which reminded me of Psalm 102:11 My days are like the evening shadow; I wither away like grass.

Your life here will zoom by much quicker than you know! You can live That tree reminded me that time is passing, and once it has passed by you, you don’t get it back, so pay attention today! And live well today, because it is the only “today” like today that you get!!!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting this. I am dealing with "mid-life" stuff this week. Ever wonder why we wait until we are 2/3rds through our life before we say we are at mid-life? Your post helps me think of a few things. (1) I am not the first person to ever reach mid-life. (2) Many folks get there and never whine about it, in fact, many seem to enjoy it. (3) I DO NOT want to be a sterotype of male mid-lifedom (you know, dissatisfied with career, family, weight, blah, blah blah). That's been done to death. And (4) I can live life well by considering the good (often great!) things in my life on a daily basis. Surely #4 is how I am supposed to pray each day.

Thanks again, "Eeyore"

Anonymous said...

Hey...you could always do what we did when faced with midlife...run away! Pack up and move hundreds of miles away and begin a midlife adventure! (Unfortunately, we're discovering old ages finds you wherever you are!)