One of my favorite scripture verses goes something like this:
When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a [wo]man, I put away childish things - 1 Corinthians 13: 11
Obviously, since I am finally 40, I have been an adult for a minute now. Yet, turning 40 does make me ruminate on where I have come from, where I have been, what I've been through, what (little) I have accomplished, but most importantly, what I have learned. Turning 40 reminds me that half my life is now behind me.
See, I feel like these past 40 years have been a time of learning, acquiring knowledge, maybe even testing some of it out. Some of those years were spent playing in the mud (literally, figuratively, spiritually...childishly), but now its time to act grown up. A friend shared with me how someone said turning 40 made her become comfortable in her own skin, so much so that she quit her highfalutin job, went back to school, and is now in the process of reinventing the next phase of her life. I've been comfortable in my own ashy black skin for a long time, but I did also just quit my job, because I felt that I'd done everything I could do in that position. It was time to move on.
As a teacher, turning 40 does not in any way slow the pace of learning, because I am sure there is yet more to learn. As I prepare to start a new job, there is even more to learn - at a minimum, now I have to prepare myself to teach a very different population (18-22 year old mid-western Christian students), and to coach and counsel business leaders on matters of faith and ethics. I have to learn to live in a not-particularly-diverse Mid-western city after many years on the East Coast.
If most (or at a minimum, half) of my life is behind me, turning 40 asks of me, what legacy do I want to leave behind? Who am I becoming in this second half of life? What have I learned in the first half that I can now fully utilize in the second? What resources have I acquired that I can now use, and what capital have I acquired that should now be reinvested?
Am excited about turning 40. And very grateful too. I look forward to what God will do with and through me in this next phase. I look forward to the adventure that is moving to Minnesota, starting a new job, and whatever God has in store for me. I celebrate every grey hair, every wrinkle, every scar and love handle that I bring with me to 40. I have earned them, now its time to put them (lessons, wisdom) to good use in this new season. Here I am Lord, signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours!
