"Not to be offensive or anything, Mom, but how does it feel to get older? I mean, can you really tell?"
This is how the conversation with my 21-year-old son Caleb started, and it ended with my rather simple answer: "Besides my back getting a little sore sometimes, Caleb, I feel better than I have in years."
In 1999 Robert Fulghum published the book All I Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. The book was a best seller, and I loved it. There are a lot of things, though, that I didn't learn in kindergarten, that took me 42 years to understand, and still many more that I'm trying to figure out. Please blog with me by sharing in the comments section the lessons you've learned.
1. I don't get any more done if I hurry, and I miss an awful lot along the way because I was too busy to really see.
2. My kids don't have to be in everything. I used to worry that I was ruining them somehow if I didn't push them in every area. By not being overly involved, we have family time, and being a family is important to us.
3. Most of the things I feel anxiety about today won't even be on my mind tomorrow. When I worry too much, I'm needing to refocus on my faith in God and acknowledge that He is the one in control.
4. Those annoying characteristics that sometimes frustrate me in my children? They may turn out to be strengths. I wish I would have fought them less and tried to channel those characteristics more.
5. Doing things for my children is less helpful than teaching them to do it for themselves.
6. As long as I keep learning, I keep growing. One of my friends was pretty persistent in holding me accountable about reading my Bible every day. I always thought the Bible was confusing because it wasn't in order chronologically, but I found a handy one-year chronological Bible that doesn't make reading just manageable. It makes it enjoyable. Seriously.
7. People who care about me challenge me to become better and don't accept my lame excuses. (By the way, if a sermon offends me in church, maybe it's supposed to. That's a sure sign of somewhere I need to grow.)
8. It isn't about me. At all. I wish I had adopted big-picture thinking earlier.
9. If I'm irritated with someone or hurt by someone, I need to talk to him about it or let it go. Don't allow those emotions to fester.
10. I don't always need more stuff. More stuff needs a bigger house. I want to enjoy what I have and get rid of my lust for new, shiny things. Still working on that one.
11. If I expect joy, I will find it. It isn't found in people acting certain ways or in my achievements. It isn't in the stuff as mentioned in number nine. Joy, for me, is found in thankfulness. It is found in counting my blessings. It is found in my relationships with other people, in service, and in faith. Joy is an attitude, not some ephemeral emotion of the moment...and it is a choice.
