This Christian Life

Looking Back from 70 Years Old

My wife and I are taking part in a book study of Living on Purpose: Finding God’s Best for Your Life. I am so interested in taking part in this study because I hope it will answer some of my questions about how to live in a post-christian, consumer-focused world and still maintain some semblance of fear of God!

So far the group has been good, and the book is doing its job. (These books tend to be somewhat inflated and redundant, but it’s actually got some good stuff in it and makes me think.)

An exercise in the book had us writing a letter as if it was our 70th birthday and we were reflecting on our life. I chose to write a letter to my grandson because I wanted to focus on a person that could hopefully learn from my life’s experiences.

The letter begins like this:

Dear Grandson,

God has given me the grace to live for 70 years. As I look back on my life, I can see more clearly where I have been, as if from a high place I could see the path of my entire life. But it hasn’t always been this clear. While I was walking, the path was often full of shadows, hidden and hard to see. Most of the journey was unfamiliar and required me to walk by faith. Every step became a decision to go forward trusting that God would guide me.

My years of youth were filled with confidence. I was convinced of God’s love for me and my response was to live with complete trust in him. I made a decision early on to follow him with all my heart and to passionately live life. I was determined.

In my 20s, I was a bachelor, trying to decipher what God was calling me to do with my life. I lost some of the passion of my youth and the path became filled with entaglements. But I had hope and kept walking. I struggled with what it meant to be a christian, and started asking questions I had never asked before. Things like ‘why do we need church,’ ‘what call does God have on my life,’ and ‘what does it mean to care for the needy.’ My eyes began to be opened to the people in this world who didn’t have as rich a history as I did, and my worldview was starting to get bigger and more complicated. A quote I cherished during this time of life goes something like, “Once stretched, the mind never goes back to it’s original position.”

After that period of life, I got married and a whole new world of inspiration was opened to me. I was out of a dark spot in my life, and could feel the sunlight pouring down on me. God blessed us with 3 beautiful, healthy children who are the joy of my life to this day. We lived on one salary, but were able to pay down our debts quickly. We looked for alternative ways to earn money and produce multiple streams of income. We strived hard not to become caught up in the rat race of finding the next best thing—from homes, to cars, to jobs, to entertainment. We were careful to eat healthy, serve others, be involved in church, go on mission trips, help with social justice issues, and not waste energy.

We didn’t have a lot of money, but we were rich in God’s blessings. We wanted to raise our children to be sensitive to the wisdom of God, and give them the tools they would need to navigate their own journeys. We exposed them to many life experiences and allowed them to see first hand what God is doing all over the world. In America, we lived in a time when everyone had enough—and then some.

We kept on that same path for many years. But we were able to retire early because of the various ways we had earned money along the way. When I was 55, our last child moved out of the house, and we were able to start volunteering wherever we saw need. Our passions were to help in the area of tutoring those who did not have opportunities that others had. We worked in homeless shelters for women and children. We travelled to India to help provide for the poor.

There has been rocky and smooth places along the way. Times when I walked quickly and freely, and times when the harshness of the path made me get down and crawl. But now that I look back, I can clearly see God’s hand in my entire journey, keeping me from losing site of the goal. Many times in my life, I tested God by asking him to fulfill a deep need in my heart. Usually, when he did fulfill that need, it would be so natural and right, I didn’t even notice it until after it had passed. Many times I asked him to do something and he did it without me even realizing it. I have also learned that I don’t always have the right answers. Parts of my life were long and dark because I didn’t want to admit God was asking me to do something I didn’t trust. But whenever I DID trust him, life was so much better. When God does things, he does them in a way that is so pure and right… even if it takes longer than I think it should take.

All my longings lie open before you, O Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you. Psalm 38:9

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life. Proverbs 13:12

There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. Proverbs 14:12

If there was one thing that I can point to that kept me looking up no matter where I was on the path, it was hope. Hope that God would be the same God I had known and experienenced previously. The past experiences of God in my life reminded me that he does care and there is purpose to this life.

…the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you. Colossians 1:5

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:11-13

I hope you will find God’s blessings for your life through faith, hope, and love and be able to give a strong testimony when you’re my age someday. :)

Love,
Grandpa