As I approach another birthday, having passed “middle age” a few years ago, I find myself thinking more and more about the future. I think there are several reasons for that, which I’ll explore in a moment. But reflection can give the necessary perspective regarding the future.
Reflect is defined as: to think deeply or carefully about.
I do a decent job of reflecting on where I currently am in life, although I can see the value in reflecting further. However, what I reflect on the most, at this stage of my life, is where my life is going to go. It’s the “human” thing to do for a few reasons.
First, because we need to plan for the future.
Second, because we are not sure what the future holds.
Third, because many of us are caring for elderly parents whose own future is now present AND we wonder if our future will look like their present.
For some strange reason, although I reflect a lot on the “big” things in my past, like marriage, the birth of my children, my cancer diagnosis, and my subsequent ministry that grew out of that cancer, I reflect very little on my later years. usually.
This morning on my daily walk, I gazed into the distance at the mountains a few miles south of me. This particular day they seemed to be bluer, almost disappearing into the sky the farther away they were. I immediately thought of something our oldest son used to say when he was little. He had a propensity to add syllables to words when he first spoke and mountains was one of those words. He called them “mountain people”. He looked at the mountains and asked “when are we going to the blue mountains?” When we traveled to the mountains, he kept asking where the blues were. Although we tried to explain to him that they weren’t actually blue, they just looked that way from a distance, he seemed sad that he never made it to those “blue mountains.”
How similar to me is this illustration! Today I traveled down a road with green mountains on either side of me, figuratively speaking. These mountains were my interactions with family, friends, coworkers, and strangers. Interactions that taught me things, allowed me to give and share, and that are worth reflecting on. I have traveled all my life through green mountains that have provided me with wonderful memories and experiences, all of which have enriched my life. But instead of reflecting on the green mountains of my distant past, my near past and today’s past… I tend to reflect on the blue mountains that I will never reach.
I will never get to them, because when I get there they will be the green mountains of today. I spend too much time thinking about what can be, not what will be, because I can’t know what WILL BE. Only God knows that.
However, when I reflect on what has been, I am drawing from life’s journeys through green mountains that allow me to see where I have been, where I am, and who I am because of those things. That is the definition of a rich life!
I found myself thinking about some things I hadn’t thought about in years and years as I continued to focus visually on the blue mountains…but mentally on the green mountains, for the rest of my hike and continuing into tonight. It was a good day because I was reflecting on this life that God has given me so far. And he brought such a perspective.
When my kids saw Sesame Street, they had a song about perspective that I’ve never forgotten. The scene showed a tunnel with a train at the beginning of the tunnel slowly making its way until the train was all that could be seen. And the words that have stuck in my mind all these years were:
“That’s about the size, where you put your eyes. That’s about the size.”
When I set my eyes on what I can’t know, like the future… it becomes big and looming like the train turned as it moved through the tunnel. But when I put my eyes on things that I do know, like my present and past… I can see LIFE more clearly and see God working in me no matter what stage of life.
I intend to stay in this place, which I have rediscovered: the blessing of reflecting on green mountains instead of blue mountains.
Can I encourage you to do the same?