I have always been proud of my accumulation of years as they come and go and before another issue is published I will have reached another milestone–the big 9-0! The farthest any one of my immediate maternal family has ever gone.
As the years accumulated, however, my sister–who was older than I, always bitterly resented my boasting of my age as she was older and always preferred more age anonymity. Another reason now is, I don’t have to tell people, they can see!”
We traditionally pass through life in the three tenses–Future tense for the first 30 years while looking forward to the perceived freedoms of adulthood; Present tense for the next 30 years (of reality), and then the waning 30, contingent upon how we handled the previous two, with thoughts (and conversations) now primarily hinged upon the past.
The most critical of the three would most certainly be the Present tense phase when we have learned little, if anything, from our relatively brief past and hold little trust or confidence in the remaining nebulous future. We live basically for the here & now, totally inconsiderate of the fact that “the present” consists only of one fleeting fragmented second! Everything else is either past-tense or future-tense!
Therefore, to live solely in present tense is to live in a dream world of “Let’s Pretend.” Let’s pretend that persistent unhealthy lifestyles, poor judgment and bad decisions will not follow us into the future and take their heavy toll when least expected or able to cope.
Let’s pretend that opportunities, which may not come at an opportune time, will always knock again or that love–by family and/or friends taken for granted, will remain unaltered, regardless of our attitudes and/or behavior.
The most strategic of the of the 3 phases would then most certainly be the present tense which throughout life’s brief pilgrimage at best, provides various stages of and opportunities for growth–physical, mental and spiritual!
In I Cor: 13:11 we read: “When I was a child I spoke as a child, I understood as a child; I thought as a child; but when I became a man I put away childish things…”
In modern society’s young adulthood it is time to put away childish ideas and childish prejudices, attitudes and behavior. The hallmark of spiritual maturity is gentleness and love manifested in courtesy, forbearance, patience and consideration through respectful, open-minded consultation! Upon reaching this plateau our spiritual compass will become more accurate in our journey enabling us to be more conscientious about leaving “… footprints in the sands of time that … some forlorn and shipwrecked brother, seeing shall take heart again”–through our past tense of life!
