Well, I got my notice by email yesterday confirming what I already knew but was trying to deny…I’m getting old! This coming September my high school classmates and I will reunite to commemorate ten years since our graduation. I remember as a child and teenager hearing the “older folks” say that I should enjoy life in the moment and not wish my life away because it passes quickly enough. As any other young person I shrugged that advice off, foolishly ignoring its truth. That seems like it was only yesterday, but now it has been ten years. To many the old saying has become almost cliché, but life really is short. It’s hard to believe that ten years ago I was still strapping on shoulder pads every afternoon and Friday nights in the fall. It’s unimaginable that ten years ago I was walking the halls at good old Westview High. It’s beyond reason that ten years ago cafeteria food was still my main source of nutrition at lunch. Ten years ago I could not wait to be done…ten years later I sometimes miss it.
Do I really want to go back and endure all four years of high school as I did before? No. But sometimes just for a day I think it would be fun to relive those times, times when life was in many ways carefree. Before the real responsibilities of life and adulthood came pressing down. Back when our biggest worries had nothing to do with food, shelter, and clothing; but what our plans were for the weekend. But I also sometimes think about lost opportunity. What did I do that I should not have done? What did I not do that I should have? Every once in a while I catch myself second guessing decisions I made or did not make way back when. That is only natural and I imagine that most people do. However, then I stop and think about how my life would be different if even one small instance in my past had been handled differently.
What if I had actually had the courage to ask that girl out that one time? It might have turned into a long-term romance and I might not have the wonderful wife and child I have today. What if I had befriended that one person who later turned into one of the biggest moral compromisers in the school? I might not be a Christian. What if I had not begun preaching regularly before my senior year of high school? I might not be a minister of the gospel today, doing the greatest work on earth (preaching) among the greatest people on earth (Christians). How would my life be different today if only one small moment in my past was changed? While it is fun to think about, it really is not anything I want to experience. I love my wife and daughter, my life, and my job. All this, though, does put into perspective (for me at least) James’ wise words – “The days of our years are threescore and ten; and if my reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away” (Psalm 90:10). We only get once chance at life. But what it becomes is what we make it.
-Andy Brewer