derekmaul

full speed into whatever – it’s a rush!

those who want to love life
    and see good days
should keep their tongue from evil speaking
    and their lips from speaking lies.
 They should shun evil and do good;
    seek peace and chase after it. – 1 Peter 3:10-11

I know it sounds cliché but, “can you believe where this month has gone?” That’s right, folks, it’s May 30 already and I swear it was just yesterday I posted something about the New Year “off to the races” and having a hard time processing the fact that “no way it’s almost February already?”

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before but I can prove that time does in fact speed up the longer we live. Don’t worry, the math isn’t that hard! On our first birthday 12-months represents 100% of our life, right? That ratio drops to 10% by the time we are ten, then just 5% at twenty. By the time I turned fifty a year was a mere 2% of my life. Today, at a little more than sixty-two, one year is an even smaller portion of my time on earth, just 1.6%.

You can see the progression: 100, 10, 2, 1.6… time is picking up speed every day. I am literally racing into the future.

Another factor is the joy and the beauty and the interest every day holds. My work, for instance, is never the same. During May I have written:

  • an article on parenting for AllProDad.com,
  • a column on social action for the Christian Voice in Tampa,
  • a profile of a theologian for the Florida Methodists,
  • a series of posts on tough social issues,
  • and a couple of chapters in my new novel.

Additionally, I’m:

  • preparing to keynote a pastor’s gathering for an adjacent Presbytery,
  • teaching Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis,
  • leading an ongoing study of Jesus in Mark’s Gospel,
  • and I’ve actually been paid for work as a photographer.

My point is that life – even when it is difficult in many ways – is always engaging and challenging and full. We can view each new day as an imposition or an opportunity, a gift or a chore, and we can apply either belief or doubt, creativity or cynicism, positive energy or the torpor of resignation.

1-IMG_1722So this morning – racing full speed ahead two months into my sixty-third year – I find myself pretty much committed to keeping one hand on the wheel, roof open, hanging my head out of the window, and feeling the breeze.

It’s a rush – DEREK

 

Leave a Reply