I got a call over the weekend from a friend, not a long lost friend, but a friend who used to be an active part of my life (and me in his). We’ve taken different paths in our lives, not necessarily “bad” or “good” but different. Our lives used to intersect, nearly daily, now reduced to a once every 2-3 month phone call and a few emails with a text message in there just when someone needs something.
He sounded, well, depressed on the phone. I’m trying to pray for him weekly. And I’m not really doing that good of a job. I guess, at some point, we all have this “thing” we strive for. And when we get there, wherever that “there” is, it feels different. It IS different than the scenario we’ve developed in our mind. And I got the sense that that’s where he’s at. Not a “life sucks” point, but, a “this isn’t what I had thought it would be” point.
Maybe that’s the whole issue of the midlife. We look back and wonder how we got here. Lots of great things along the way. Lots of things we can hang on the wall. But have I really made a difference? If I have the ability to touch the lives of many people, then why don’t I feel better about where I’m at?
So, here I go and make this about me when it’s supposed to be about something entirely different.
I think about how I wish I could still be involved in the lives of those friends who have gone, yet, I’m reminded of those friends who get to sharpen my iron now that I wouldn’t otherwise be involved with in a different situation. Am I making the most of where God has placed me right now? Am I encouraging oram I allowing my own weight to impact my world which could otherwise be impacting the lives of others?
and so it goes…
