observation from 103

...and so I re-enter the blog world after much harassment from my dear sister, Laura, and several other friends. You see, I was happily blogging and then...LST happened. And when LST happens, NOTHING ELSE happens.

A revelation to me for the month of October is that time passes quickly and we do not cease to move with it. My Aunt Val came in April, and my parents came to visit for two weeks this month, and I realized that they are aging. None of them can hear me very well when I'm talking to them...even in the same room. My brother-in-law and oldest sister are both in their 40s. I have an 18 year old nephew, and another nephew applying for college in the fall.

I, myself, am entering my last year in this second decade of my life. A friend recently informed me that I should think of myself as past the age of "dating". Many college-years friends have been married close to a decade themselves and have multiple children. Each time an LST team comes from York, I realize they get younger...and I'm getting older. So why do I perceive myself as perpetually young?

Don't get me wrong. I am not afraid of getting older physically. I know that nothing about me is getting thinner except my hair. The other day I made faces in the mirror (yes, I'm not ashamed to admit that I make faces in the mirror when I'm by myself) and noticed that there are more lines...and their impressions last a little longer afterwards. Getting older, though, isn't negative. I want to embrace emotional, mental and spiritual maturity through whatever experiences God brings.

In Psalm 103, David speaks of man's life as being like grass which passes quickly and whose place forgets it. Do I make the most of each opportunity, then, so that my influence is lasting? What things am I saying or doing to influence generations to come? How am I impacting the lives around me through my love, loyalty and witness of Christ?

It is true that I will pass. It's also true that people will forget my existence and I won't ever be famous. I'm okay with all of that - as long as someone's great-grandchild can say that their life was changed because I shared Christ with their great-grandparent, and now there is a deeper, inexplicable love that is unbroken in their family.