Growing Up...Reluctantly

My friends that really know me know that I'm not intending on acting my age...ever. My body may age, but I don't intend on allowing a one-to-one relationship between body age and spirit age.

You're only as old as you feel...

However, maturing is not the same as aging. I've known kids that are mature beyond their years and I've also known adults that are not mature. Maturity comes from experience and not all experience is fun.

We talk about being an adult and doing adult things... As we get older we get to experience things that we couldn't before - it's exciting...most of the time.

For me, it's easy to talk about the right thing to do. I can talk through all the possible scenarios, debate the best way to do things, talk about ethics, morals, attitudes and being Christ-like. What I'm learning now is that sometimes the hardest thing to do is the right thing.

Sometimes the right thing is simply being your best in a bad situation.

Making a decision to do something after thoughtful and prayerful consideration also means that you have to decide to be OK with that choice. If it's the right choice, made out of love and compassion then a grown up decides to free themselves of the decision once it's made and move on.

I guess "growing up" isn't quite what I thought it would be.

Reinvention III

Reinvention.

The very term suggests that it's a renewal, not something that is "tried and true" or "comfortable". I can only imagine a snake shedding his skin as he grows. The growing is good and the growing means that he is living and thriving, but for a snake, the skin is scaly and stiff - providing him protection from the elements.

As he grows he has to shed that skin so that new, softer skin can emerge and serve him protection as he continues to grow. The new skin is softer, shinier and...well...new. The old skin comes off along with all of the cuts and abrasions that the snake suffered since the last time he shed. The new skin does not look completely different than the old skin once did...neither does it look the same. Same snake...different skin...new stage in life.

I can only imagine that the process of shedding your skin is not comfortable, especially at first when it's just itchy. It must feel really weird to watch this shell that you have been living in and carrying around for some time separate from you and then you just leave it behind - using your new skin. The old one served you well, and the new one will too.

It's the process of growing...improving...living...renewing...reinvention.