I hope I'm only 3.5 weeks old...

So I'm sitting here on my birthday, the big 35!  Still young enough to do something stupid silly but old enough to know better!  I usually take this day to think about my life up to this point. I review last year's vision document and I  work on a vision document for the next before October comes to a close!  (Over the years I've found it helpful to map out what I want to accomplish in my next year of life so I have an idea of where I want to head.  There has to be an immediate vision.) 

Guide my steps Lord...

When I was younger I used to look at the document and get all stressed out by September 1 if I hadn't accomplished 90% of the items on the list, thinking it had to be done MY WAY!  What I was doing, at that point, was taking YHVH (Yahweh) out of the equation.  "The heart of a son of man plans his ways and the Lord Jehovah orders his steps..." Proverbs 16:9.  I spent so much time thinking about "my" plans that I didn't realize that YHVH was ordering my steps in the way I should go. 


See when I wake up in the morning I know exactly what my sons need to do to make it though their day and productively learn.  I guide them ever so gently (well, most times at least!  Sometimes I'm yelling and screaming at them to do this and that!  Just keepin' it real ladies) to their next task.  Our Creator does that for us each and everyday.  My immature vision document, in light of my FATHER'S vision, looks something like my sons' would look in His eyes.  Wake up and eat candy for breakfast, watch t.v., play wii, and ride bikes all day long.  They think their vision/desire is so great and important; however, they don't have the perspective of their lives outside of their present moment.  I as their earthly parent do, so I must guide them, instruct them, and at times deny them their desires to produce a more fruitful and productive people.  


As a baby we look for our parents to show us the way and guide us. As a toddler we scream and fight when our steps are out of order from the picture in our minds.  As a kid we look for guidance and direction while forming our own "way!" As a teenager we rebel against authority and try to order our steps, as young adults we think we might have it figured out just to realize- Hold up, hold up- we don't as we start to cross over the line to middle ageness!


What do I want to tell my younger self today?  You live in light of eternity only.  YHVH created you at the beginning of time.  (For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be h oly and blameless in his sight.  Ephesians 1:4) He decided you should hit this earthly realm on October 26, 1976 so that you could perfect your character and learn to love Him and his people in spirit and in truth... because He chose you to follow His design, His plan, His Law, His Son (Yeshua) in order for you to live with Him for eternity in the new earth!  


So how old am I really?  Timeless... If I count from the beginning of time (really before time) I'm really old!  If I count from when I was born into this earth to now...35.  If I count in light of all the "new earth" years I have in front of me when Yeshua comes back...at most 3.5 weeks old!  So given what He opened my eyes to see in my 34th year of life I feel like I'm only weeks old!  At least, that's what I'm hopping for... if not I'm really remedial.  


If I could pass it on... Remember, life is less about our happiness in the beginning and more about the development of our character!