It just hit me today that I’m closer to my twenties than I am to my forties. No offense to my forty-year-olds but you’re probably closer to your thirties than to your fifties. And my fifty-year-olds are probably closer to your forties than you are your sixties. Have you picked up on the pattern yet? No matter how old you are, you’re not as old as you think you are. Just as all things in life, it’s a matter of perspective. You nor I have control over the ticking hands of time but our perspective of what this or ANYTHING means is completely in our control. How often have you met a twenty-five-year-old that reminds you of a stereotypical “old man.” That’s a choice of how one sees themselves. There are times you meet an “old man” and he comes off as a bright vibrant young man because of his fixed perspective.
It’s only when we become aware of time that it presents a problem. I can look back on thirteen and think about the Korn concert I went to. When I put it in the perspective of time, that was twenty years ago and now I start to feel “old.” Now, I have some limited memories from younger ages like during my toddler years but I don’t look back on that like, “Can you believe I was two, thirty years ago! Man, where did the time go! Seems like just yesterday I was barely able to walk and now, poof! I’m excited about appliances.” We don’t really think like that, but when we can bring to mind shared experiences from our past with our friends or family we have this thought of, “Dude! Can you believe we were thirteen, twenty years ago?!” Why do we do that? Once we’ve become conscious of time and shared experiences with others, that seems to become the milestone for when we start keeping track and reminding ourselves how old we are and how quick life goes and how we’re pretty much going to be dead tomorrow… Or is that just me?
Kids have no idea what the concept of time is. To them, an afternoon and a year are the same thing. For some of my God people out there, God is said to live outside of time. A day or a thousand days are exactly the same to him. Maybe this is another reason why the Bible talks about becoming like little children. Escaping that made-up reality of time which pressures and deadlines us. Even “deads” us if we let it and if dead can be used as a verb. For my people that aren’t God people, this thought still holds benefit for you.
Think about a kid’s day. Even if you don’t have children of your own. They’re pretty happy and content with things like swirls, bubbles and glitter. They’re not bound by this concept of time and only experience disdain for it when it’s bedtime. However, they don’t walk through their day contemplating how bad it’s gonna be when it is bedtime. It’s like a brand new shocking thing every day. Like they’ve never experienced it before. They’ve approached the next day as if it were brand new and not like all the others with no knowledge of the dreaded bedtime or fortieth birthday that will follow.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go work on being more like a kid and pretend I’m a dinosaur.
A T-Rex to be exact.
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