This past month I turned 25. I decided to spend it like I did most of my weekends this summer: down at the beach on Hilton Head Island. It was real low key - and if you know anything about me - that's the way I like my birthdays (isn't that right Patrick ;) ).I originally sat down to write this while at the condo in Hilton Head, but I got distracted by a beautiful woman who still has 3 years to turn 25, hit save, and haven't touched it since. But I am glad I didn't because it wasn't until this past weekend that I knew what my point was with it, and here it is: I was never suppose to get this old.
This past weekend, Molly's parents and I dropped Molly off at Samford University for her to start her 4th and final year of college (I'll blog about that experience later). The ride home was really quite enjoyable as Molly's parents and I had some great conversation. As we were entering the greater Atlanta area, Molly's mom started talking about how weird it was to drop Molly off this weekend, and her younger sister a couple weekends earlier (actually the weekend I turned 25), and next year they are going to be dropping off their youngest. As we passed over 285 she made the comment, "I was never suppose to get this old." And after reflecting on this further this past week, I have to say that I think she is right.
I am not going to bore you with another discussion on why time proves there is a heaven. If you missed that, you can check it out here. But what I do think after putting some thought into this is how often life tells us exactly what we need to know, yet we ignore it. It is moments like these that God uses to remind us that something is seriously wrong with what we call life. Yet do we notice?
What happened to high school? Remember longing to get your driver's license? Or showing up for the football game to meet friends? Or getting ready for Prom? And then we moved on to college and how many of us woke up the day after graduation, looked in the mirror and just said in that subdued, quasi-depressed tone, "wow, it's over." And if you are reading this and are older than say 25, I am sure you are thinking, this kid doesn't even know the half of it; and you'd be right. I can't even imagine what it is like watching my kid grow up and go to college and start a life on their own and have their own kids just to start the process all over again.
Whether turning 25 or dropping your youngest kid off at college, it is only natural to feel as if something isn't right with the equation. We were suppose to live for eternity. We were created to live outside the bounds of time. But what do we do with that feeling? Do we just get depressed and long to have the moments back? Do we take the opposite approach and start freaking out and attempt to grab every single moment we can while driving everyone else around us nuts? Or do we simply cherish the moments we are currently having because we know they too will be short, but take solace in the idea that one day it will all be corrected? I am not sure how I am going to react, but I do hope these moments always draw me closer to - not further from - my God and my loved ones.







Can you post a different picture of Molly for those of us who have longed for you to find a girlfriend, but never get to see you?
The only photos we have is at a Japanese restaurant we went to the other day. You can view that album here.
ha ha ha - such a lie - you were thinking "I wonder when Sarah will get her to pack my car so I can drive to ATL because without her I would never be able to pack anything!"
Now that is just a bold faced lie my friend. Yes you did help me pack - which was the only time I think I had any help packing - and yes you did do a good job and for a girl you are a phenomenal packer. But to make the statement that I can't pack anything with out you is quite an exaggeration don't you think. I have one word for you: Italy!
But for the record - I was not given the chance to prove myself in Italy because Mr. Andrew "pushy" Borgmann jumped in there too soon, thus never letting me show my skills :)
P.S. We are looking forward to seeing you next week....
Of course there is more to it than that- I think we are just seeing a concentrated form of the feeling that affects many ages and generations.
You hit on the answer when you say "we were created to live outside the bounds of time". This is part of the wisdom of many religions and many traditions. We long for eternity, for union with the Divine, all the while lugging around this only body, this too solid flesh, this mortal coil.
What you want- what I want- what we all long for is the state elegantly phrased by poet Allen Ginsberg: "Holy time in eternity. Holy eternity in time."
The sermon is thus ended.