Mid-Life. Crisis or Opportunity?
This month I will celebrate my 35th birthday, which, if I'm blessed with
threescore and ten years, means that I'll be half-way through! Whilst my
wife (who's a few years older than me) insists that neither of us is yet
middle-aged, I've nonetheless been reflecting on what this midway marker
might mean. In purely numeric terms, 35 years is equivalent to 12,783 days,
306,792 hours, 18,407,520 minutes or 1,104,451,200 seconds, but clearly this is
a totally inadequate way of assessing my life!
Perhaps I should instead think about the certificates I've gained, the jobs I've done, the places I've lived or the 'stuff'I've accumulated? Or alternatively the tasks I've failed, the times I've messed up and the relationships in which I've let people down? Whether I'm trying to bask in the glory of achievements now past, or weighed down by the regrets of things unsaid or undone, I've found that looking back often holds me back. I guess it's like trying to drive with just the rearview mirror.
Whilst we must learn from the past we need to keep our focus on the present - to be 'aware'of the open door ahead of us now. Having a hope for the future is important too, but the only way we move towards that destination is by the steps we take today. It doesn't matter if we're 15, 35, 55 or 75, today offers us new opportunities, and the successes and failures (especially the failures) of yesterday become the training programme that we've just completed.
Winston Churchill became prime minister in 1940 at the age of 64. He had known success and failure, popularity and political obscurity, but as he reflected on his role in World War II he said "I felt as if I were walking with destiny, and that all my past life had been but a preparation for this hour."Moses similarly had eighty years of preparation (forty years of privilege in Egypt and forty years of exile in the wilderness) before God called to him from the burning bush and informed him that he was the one who had been chosen to lead Israel out of slavery.
I recently found this prayer and I want to share it with you in case you are looking at your life and wondering where it's heading. As you pray, and offer your situation to God, He help you turn your 'crisis'into an opportunity.
A PRAYER FOR 'MID-LIFE' OPPORTUNITY
Lord, help me now to unclutter my life,
To organise myself in the direction of simplicity.
Lord forgive me for the mistakes of the past,
And help me to know and to do what's right.
Lord, teach me to listen to my heart;
Teach me to welcome change, instead of fearing it.
Lord, I give you these stirrings inside me,
I give you my discontent,
I give you my restlessness,
I give you my doubt,
I give you my despair,
I give you all the longings I hold inside.
Help me to listen to these signs of change, of growth;
To listen seriously and follow where they lead,
Through the breathtaking empty space of an open door.
Amen.
We welcome you to any of our services or other midweek activities. Morning Worship every Sunday at 10.30am with Sunday School, except for the 4th Sunday of each month when we hold our monthly mini-holiday club at Bottisham Primary School. Next club - 10.30am Sunday 27th May. All welcome!