Halfway to 91

After the kids sang this to me this morning, “Hap Birt to, Hap Birt to, Hap Birt Da, Hap Birt to.” (It’s our family’s half-birthday song.) I told them I am halfway to 91. “What happens at 91?” they asked in unison. “I don’t know,” I replied.

We went on to talk about how long our parents, grandparents and great-grand parents lived. Caleb suggested we average them all together and come up with a guess.

This conversation had me thinking, though, “I don’t know what’s ahead.” Am I still going up the hill? Am I at its pinnacle preparing for descent? Is it like the infamous walk to school we joked about as kids - “uphill both ways” ?

I think back on the journey so far - amazing. All the ups and downs and detours and short-cuts that turn into long-cuts. This journey has had storms, times when I feel I’ve had to shelter in place, and glorious moments of singing - in rain and shine.

I’ve been scraped up along the way, taken a few tumbles, forgotten my sunscreen, needed water, as well as times when I feel I could go on and on and on.

What I have come to cherish on this journey is not having a force field from the elements, rather it’s not having to travel this journey alone.

Some of my treks on the Camino have come to mind a lot lately, and what I appreciate about them is how peregrinos encourage one another along the way. Sometimes they walk with each other for part of the way, sometimes a kind word or phrase is exchanged in passing, sometimes it’s laughter or knowing silence over an espresso. In all cases, peregrinos remind one another that we never walk alone.

One of the coolest experiences I remember came when walking through a wooded area between ancient stone walls. In wondering how long ago people built those walls, I felt connected to the grander story - that many people with their own hopes, dreams, uncertainties, and desperate prayers walked this path before me, and many people will walk this path after me. And somehow, the comforting mystery of it all is, God knows all of us - God knows each of us. God has journeyed and will continue to journey with all of us through life’s circumstances and uncertainties.

What’s ahead? What’s around the bend? I don’t know, yet I am not worried or anxious about the future. I hope I have many more years of meals with family and friends, and I hope I have so much more time to shine light and shed love.

“No one should ever have to feel alone alone.” A guy named Blake shared these with me when he told me how he responded to teens’ questions about God’s love. These words both challenge and encourage me on my journey. I hope they can do both for you.

Instead of wondering what happens at 91 - or 25 or 40 or 65 or … I wonder how you can look around you today, find something and/or someone for which/whom you can give thanks. I wonder if you can find someone around you who needs a bit of encouragement, someone who might need to know God’s love in a practical tangible way.