Breathing Life Into Our Years

Wouldn’t we all like to live a quality life of great length filled with joy and memories to share, lived with purpose until close to the end?  I've witnessed both sets of my grandparents live well into their 90's (and one set is still counting.)  I am proud to provide a branch on their trees of loved ones.  I have enjoyed hearing stories from their years gone by and learning about the marks that they left on history.  A lifetime of memories is one of life's greatest treasures and advice from their experiences is a blessing to have shared.

I've also witnessed lives that were cut far too short. My brother, Adam, and my cousin, Rik both died before even reaching 40 and my father died at the age of 48.  I wish, almost daily, that they were still here today, but they each left their marks in their own ways.  I give thanks to have shared in their years.  I remember clearly what my dad said the day he found out he had cancer, he claimed "I lived a full life - I just did it too fast!"  We've also heard it stated "It's not the years in your life, it's the life in your years."  The saying, in its truth, provides comfort in times of grief and gives incentive to many to reach for their goals.   

Goals.  Everyone needs goals - something to strive for, to be better at, to bring purpose to our lives.  As children we have big dreams of being astronauts and firemen, teachers or mommies when we grow up.  As young adults, the opportunities are endless.  But where do we start?  Suddenly, “when I grow up” becomes next year or real soon and kids are thrust into their futures trying to find their way into adulthood.  It can be overwhelming and even scary at first.  But it is important to remember that “Rome wasn’t built in a day” and likewise our lives are made up of a continuous journey of goals both big and small.      

I am currently in the midst of midlife myself as I am half way through my forties.  With our children quickly entering their own adulthoods, life as my husband and I have known it for years is about to fade out and the rest of our lives is not quite yet in focus.  At midlife, we may start to question our own existence.  What have we done with our lives?  What is our legacy?  Are we doing enough?  What now? 

As our years grow in length, wrinkles begin to mark the passage of time, creating a work of art sketched by years of laughter and worry.  In the end, we all have a story to share - a lifetime of joy, some moments of pain, memories to cherish and a few we may rather forget.  Each story is uniquely our own.  Some have grown trees filled with family to span generations to come, some have built resumes of achievements and credentials, and some have filled bucket lists with goals they've accomplished through time.  Some have grown crops to feed a family, taught the minds of those eager to learn, or saved lives as a doctor or nurse.  Any life lived with passion, wherever it may lead, is one to look back on with pride. 

A full life is often built around love.  There is no greater joy than the love found in life and it is there in a variety of ways.  There are those whom we love for a very short time, those we have to let go, and those we may never forget.  There’s the enjoyment of friendships (yes, those are love too) and there’s always ourselves and our God.  There are those who support us through thick and through thin, those who will surround us in the end, and even those who wait for us on the other side.  In the end, we all hope for a life of great length but we pray for a life just well spent.  It's impossible to say when we'll breathe our last breath, but we can each live today to breathe life into our years.