Time keeps passing // Bodies keep changing // Here’s to wisdom growing a pace.
I recently had a birthday. Not a MAJOR one where the first digit changed… but one where the second digit became a 5 – signaling halfway to a major birthday.
I kept telling myself “age is just a number, I feel like I’m 35.” I didn’t want to let it get to my head and send me into a tailspin (honestly it’s the birthdays that end in 1 that seem to hit me the hardest).
But no one told my body.
This week I went on a business trip for a big meeting. Tuesday night we had a “team building exercise”. Pickleball. If you’re not familiar with the sport, imagine ping pong and tennis having a baby. Smaller court. Much slower ball. Supposedly good for “old people”.
Yeah, right.
So thinking I was only 35, I stepped confidently onto the court. I surveyed my opponents with disdain, desiring to crush them under my competitive spirit. I twirled my paddle like I knew what I was doing.
And then they served the ball.
Oops. There is a skill component and a fitness component that goes into the game. Mental state doesn’t really have that much of an impact.
The news reporter giving a summary of the match might have said something about the time I fell to the ground trying to hit the ball – roughing up my knee and ankle and giving me a nice bruise on my hand (no, the ball was not successfully returned).
As the game progressed, I could feel the popping/grinding sensation in my back, suggesting that all was not well. And my right heel began to smart as if my achilles tendon were stretched too tight.
So I did the only thing I could do and didn’t come back for “best 2 out of 3”. My body was talking to me, telling me that it wasn’t up to the fiery competition my mind wanted to see.
And the next day, everything hurt. Especially my heel. It felt like needles in my foot when I walked. Need I remind you that I recently celebrated a birthday? And yes, it was the day I flew home – so I had to navigate long airport walks to the gate and then from the landing gate to my car. Eventually I found a way to walk (accepting it was just going to hurt) that didn’t look like I was about to fall over.
Of course the lesson was just beginning for me. I gutted out the pain in my heel, but my body had a second lesson for me. Because I had been limping around on my sore heel, the next morning not only was my heel sore, but so was my knee – probably from compensating from the strange gait I finally settled on in the airport.
Ok. Things are now slowly healing. My foot feels mostly normal, and my knee is starting to get better. But I’m mentally in a different place. I get that I’m out of shape and growing older. I can’t do what I did when I was younger. And when injured, I heal much more slowly than I did as a young whipper-snapper.
But – and this is a really big BUT – I hope that with age and experience comes wisdom. No I can’t just drop into a competitive game of pickle ball. But I should be able to see the world through wise eyes.
For me that means that I hope I can see the world through eyes that love God and are 100% committed to him. Next month I’ll celebrate 51 years with Jesus. That’s a celebration where the big number makes me excited, not tired.
Wisdom – in the Old Testament that’s more than having answers to hard questions. It’s living the GOOD LIFE. And the Good Life is one that is properly aligned to God.
I hope that I’m getting wiser. I hope I’m living more like God wants me to live. I hope I’m embracing God’s values as my values. I hope I see through the temptations of the world and culture with clear eyes that don’t fall for the traps that Satan sets for me.
I think “Well done, good and faithful servant” and wisdom go hand in hand. That’s what I long for these days. Yes, I like to win on the court. But I’d gladly trade every victory for the rest of my living days just to hear those sweet words from my Savior.
I don’t know where you are in your life. But I hope that wherever you are, you are desiring wisdom and the ability to please God. There are a million false offers for what really matters. But the wise eyes see them for what they are and cling to the real deal.
That’s what I’d like us to be… a community of the committed to God. We may not win a lot of pickle ball matches. But if we each hear “well done”, I think that’s a fantastic trade.
What do you need to do to make that a reality for you?
Wisdom over wins. Jesus over games. Godliness over goofing around. That’s the life to which we are called.
And I hope you revel in it.
Dennis
