The Challenge of...Aging

To watch my kids get older and experience new aspects of life is a tremendous joy. There is, however, a drawback. As each beautiful child gets another year older (one of them turned 9 years old last Saturday), so do I. To see these kids hit landmarks (12 is around the corner for the other one) is so exciting. But, facing the realization that parents also deal with landmarks (40 is around the corner for one of them!) for some reason, doesn't quite hold the same joy. It's funny though. Kids look ahead and say, "I can't wait to be 12, or 16, or 21." Adults look ahead and say, "I can't believe I'm closing in on 40, or 50, or 65." We also tend to reflect as we see these mile-markers ahead...and that's a good thing. "What have I done in life?" "How have I changed the world around me?" "How did I get HERE?" These are common questions, I imagine. And important questions.
However, I want to ask some different questions. See, I don't need to be fearful of growing older. I take decent care of myself, so (Lord willing) I don't have any pressing physical concerns. So, the questions I want to ask are, "Am I growing in my relationship with my God every single day? With my wife? My kids? Am I cultivating a home that will provide blessings and confidence for my family?" And instead of looking over my shoulder and dwelling on what might have been and asking, "Why did this have to happen?" - along with the relationship questions - I want to daily pose these questions to myself: "What am I going to do to make use of today? How can I improve today? How can I make a positive difference...today?"
Asking those questions is asking to be challenged, isn't it? Well, so be it. With God as my helper, I want to take on these challenges. I want to face challenges like Caleb, who, at 80 years old said, "Now therefore, give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said" (Joshua 14:12).
Give me this mountain...whatever it is.