So, I hit the big Five-O this weekend.  We partied with friends and family.  It’s so great to feel loved.  Fifty years used to seem like a long time.  Not so much to me now.  Where has the time gone? Everybody’s asking what feels different to me about 50.  Well, I think I’ve been feeling the effects of 50 for about ten years or so now.  Old is just… well… old – no matter how you slice it.  But there is something about turning fifty that trips the trigger of contemplation and reflection.  Life for me has been full.  Characterized by both success and failure, things hard and easy.  And, generally, life has been good, and continues to be good. 

 Here’s the thing that’s important to remember.  My life has been, is, and will continue to be good because God is good.  Even in the hard things.  Even when I feel like I am losing.  Even when my heart is breaking, and my faith is challenged.  God is good – all the time.  He’s given me so much more than I deserve.  It’s incomprehensible and a little overwhelming when I begin to take inventory.  My storehouse is overflowing.

There’s also a sense in which I feel that life is just beginning.  I feel more motivated now than I have in quite a while.  There is much to do.  Much to enjoy.  People to love and serve and great purpose to fulfill.  Admittedly, it looks different than I might have imagined.  Some would say that my opportunity cache is a little unconventional.  I’d have to agree.  But if variety is the spice of life, then mine is not lacking for flavor.

I am looking forward with eager expectation to the years God will give me to love, serve and draw closer to Him.  That might be the most exciting thing to me in all of this.  I’m fifty years into eternity with my Creator, God.  The best is undoubtedly yet to come…