Just Normal

February 20, 2023

Yesterday I reached one of those decade milestones in birthdays. When we reach fifty, sixty, seventy it can send some folks into a degree of depression. I really don’t mind getting older.

God has blessed me! I keep on making mistakes, and I keep on learning from them. Isn’t that where wisdom comes from? The wiser I get, the more wisdom I can share with others.

Yes, I have lots of blessings to count. I take no regular medication. (I’ve taken three or four Advil in the past year.) My blood sugar and blood pressure usually stay in the ‘normal’ range. I can still walk four miles in less than an hour. My singing voice has not hit the screechy stage yet (or at least no one has complained). I’ve only recently had to start wearing prescription eyewear.

I’m comfortable in my own style. I like wearing colorful socks with wild designs. Like most people, I wear jeans most of the time. I’m a car person, not a pickup or SUV type. My hobbies are basically horseshoes and furniture-fixing.

God has made us all different, and that’s wonderful. At times I have wanted to be just like somebody else. I’ve wanted to have their height or skill or, too often, their abundance of hair. I’ve wanted to have their youth.

I’ve been thinking lately how the last of the Ten Commandments (don’t covet what your neighbor has) intersects Paul’s instruction to Timothy to “stir up the gift” he received from God in his calling. We waste time wishing we had someone else’s abilities. Our time should be spent using who we are for God’s service. He’ll call on somebody else to do their own part. That’s the religious variant of “mind your own business.”

Ecclesiastes 3:1, “For everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.”