Thoughts on 39 Years of Living

I recently turned 39 years old.

This age somehow seems both old and young: Old because I’ve had a bunch of interesting experiences; young because I’m less than half the age of other family members. As a way to personally reflect and have you also reflect, I’m going to share some ideas that seem important. I did not appreciate many of these ideas in previous decades, but now I see the power embedded in these ideas.

Ideas

Wisdom is important.

If you had told me this 20 years ago I would have agreed and moved on. However, life experiences — and reflecting on life experiences — has made me much more aware of the importance of wisdom. In my view, wisdom combines doing the right thing at the right time in right way; each of these three pieces beautifully fuse together, bringing the appropriate mindset and insights to each situation.

Unfortunately, I can think of a bunch of examples where I was unwise — either through doing the wrong thing, having the wrong timing, or using the wrong way. Of the three, timing has been the hardest part; I’m an intense human, so my tendency is to want the timing to be now. This works in some situations, but (many) others require a deeper understanding of the best time for an action or word in a situation.

I’ve also come to love and appreciate the ideas on wisdom found in the great works of literature and faith traditions, including my own faith in Christianity. The Bible is full of wisdom…