Charting a New Course In Mid-Life
Midlife. The “half-way” point. You know you’ve crossed the threshold into midlife when you first realize you probably don’t have as many years left to you as you’ve already lived. Something about this life passage is by turns liberating and disquieting: liberating because you no longer feel controlled by the expectations of others; disquieting because you can now see the sum of your choices manifested in the character of your children and the state of your significant relationships. In short, the harvest reaped of the seeds you’ve sown. If you’ve wasted years or not lived by the faith you profess, this life stage can be accompanied by a sense of dread or failure.
Somewhere in the decades of your forties and fifties, questions start to loom. You may look back on the journey so far and wonder if the goals you set for yourself as a young person were worthy of the years and energy you poured into them.
The latest medical research tells us that midlife Americans are in the best physical shape they’ve ever been; some in the media have hailed age 60 as the “new 40.” With such a rosy health forecast for aging baby boomers, the all-important question may not be how long we live, but what we’ll make of the bonus years we’ve been given.
Now may be the perfect time to sit down with a pen and paper (or your favorite word-processing program) and begin the journey of introspection that will help you chart your coming decades. Start by answering these questions:
• If there were a filmed version of my life, would I come out looking like a villain or a hero?
• What have learned in the first half of my life – and how will apply that wisdom in my second half?
• How can be sure that the legacy leave is one my family, my community, my children and grandchildren will want to inherit?
Maybe you’ve avoided thinking critically about your life choices and the impact you’ve had on those around you. Maybe up to now your journey hasn’t been the stuff of glowing tributes. may have failed in some important relationships, squandered opportunities, not lived courageously. But assessing the past is crucial to setting a wise course for the future.
Ask God to shine the light of discernment on the things that have been important to you in the past – and help you begin the process of shaping a new vision for the future. Jesus Christ came so that we need not pay in perpetuity for our failures. His mercies are new every morning (see Lamentations 3:23). Even if your first half hasn’t been a stellar example of a life well lived, the good news is that beginning now, you can chart a new course.
Roberta Rand Caponey
December 17 2008 11:44 pm | Christian Living