(April 7, 2009)
Psalm 90:10-12
The length of our days is seventy years-
or eighty, if we have the strength;
yet their span is but trouble and sorrow,
for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
Who knows the power of your anger?
For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.
Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
On Friday, I turn 40. Yeah, black balloons and all that. I remember when I was 16 years old going to my friend’s mom’s 40th birthday party. She had black balloons and all the jokes about being over the hill. She’s 64 now. Time flies when yer havin’ fun, doesn’t it?
I’ve got no remorse about this. I see my life as a series of hard-won victories and now that I’m 40 I’m old enough to have something to say. Time to stop holding back and saying what needs to be said.
I remember hearing the story of Solomon being offered anything he wanted, in 1 Chronicles 1:
7 That night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”
8 Solomon answered God, “You have shown great kindness to David my father and have made me king in his place. 9 Now, LORD God, let your promise to my father David be confirmed, for you have made me king over a people who are as numerous as the dust of the earth. 10 Give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may lead this people, for who is able to govern this great people of yours?”
11 God said to Solomon, “Since this is your heart’s desire and you have not asked for wealth, riches or honor, nor for the death of your enemies, and since you have not asked for a long life but for wisdom and knowledge to govern my people over whom I have made you king, 12 therefore wisdom and knowledge will be given you. And I will also give you wealth, riches and honor, such as no king who was before you ever had and none after you will have.”
What a powerful story that is. I keenly remember pondering that I was 7 years old. I prayed, “God, I want wisdom too, just like Solomon did.” I see every day as trading youth for wisdom, experience, and hopefully some sort of asset, whether it’s material, immaterial, or relational.
One of my favorite songs is “Time and Motion”, an obscure track from Rush’s Test For Echo album. It says:
Time and motion
Wind and sun and rain
Days connect like boxcars in a train
Fill them up with precious cargo
Squeeze in all that you can find
Spontaneous elation
And the long-enduring kind
I for one am especially interested in “the long-enduring kind.”
One of the assets that I value much more than I used to is deep friendships. I remember one time about 4-5 years ago, thinking “I’ve got a lot of colleagues but I don’t really have very many friends.”
I wondered if that was OK or not.
Later, some mid-life turbulence hit and I realized, “Um, no, that is not OK.”
I am happy to report, the state of my close friendships is much healthier now than it was then.
Case in point: I’ve got my own list of Facebook Friends, and I find the news stream of daily minutia hardly interesting. I hate small talk and I couldn’t care less about the fact that Sophia has joined the cause, “Citizens against The Proposed Tollway Expansion.”
I’d much rather go deep with 2 or 3 people.
If I had a wish for you, it would be this:
That at your next milestone birthday, you’d be able to say to yourself:
“If I could go back and do it again, I wouldn’t, because I wouldn’t trade the wisdom I’ve accumulated for anything. I like being the age that I am, right now.”
Fill that train with precious cargo. You can’t take the houses and SUV’s with you, but the Wisdom comes with.
Perry Marshall
